Well, we have a tree that's about to block our dish, so I called DTV and had a tech come out to move the dish. When the tech found out that we were about to have a new roof put on, he advised me to wait until the roof was finished.
What about mounting the dish on the side of the house, I asked. Potentially unstable in high winds, he replied. OK. Rescheduled.

Now the new roof is in place. I had a service call scheduled for the AM today. The tech showed up at 12:30, doesn't call me, doesn't ring my bell, just goes into my yard. I come out and there's this kid with his shirt tail out, tattoos all over him, and he's calling me "boss man". OK, fine. How long to complete the job? Two hours, he says. I told him that both the first tech and the automated message I received today said this move would take about 45 minutes, so why is it now two hours, I asked. Oh, your connectors are not up to code.

Freaking what?

You see right here, he say, pointing to the junction box on the side of my house. I need to change this connector, he says.

Uh huh. An additional hour and fifteen minutes to cut off an old connector, prep the coax and crimp the new connector in place? Oh, he says, I'm giving you an outside estimate.

OK, sure. I'll be in the house, I told him. I go inside. Not three minutes later, he knocks on my door. He says that his supervisor is coming out. Why, I ask. To scout a new location for your dish. He says this as he makes a circular motion indicating the perimeter of my property.
No, it's going on the roof, the spot where you and I agreed to less than five minutes ago. What about on the side of the house, he asks. I can mount it on the side of the house.
What's the problem, I ask. He says "You need a forty foot ladder to reach that spot".
I told him that I don't need a forty foot ladder- he needs a forty foot ladder. DirecTV needs a forty foot ladder. OK, right, sorry, he says. I told him to let me know when his supervisor arrives. OK, he says. he waits around maybe five minutes, then he gets into his PT Cruiser (which today I discovered will not allow for the transport of a forty foot ladder) and simply leaves. No note, no phone call, no knock on the door, no supervisor. No email followup from DTV about rescheduling, nothing.

I called DTV and fairly melted the phone, and now DTV will pay their third visit to me for this simple task, and now they won't get paid for it, 'cause it's now at no charge.

Needless to say, I told them I didn't want anyone from a prison work release program on my property again, so they're sending the first guy back.

I have had dtv for a least a couple decades. On the rare occasion I have talked with anyone or had any dealings it almost lead to me cancelling the service. The last time they told me I needed all new equip. That did not happen so my time with them may be limited. I dunno.

When housed flooded, holes were drilled where the baseboards are so inside could air-dry. Contract calls for holes to be patched and then baseboards installed.

Painters tell me that they are not "patchers" and it really doesn't make a difference if holes are patched or not.

Sort of a medium-sized story short, holes patched after a phone call to the property restoration company. Folks will try to get away with whatever they can. And at times, make things up as they go.

Wait until you're told the reason your internet slows from 50+ mbps to 2 mbps between 7 pm and 9 pm over the last two weeks is because the modem you own needs to be upgraded to one Spectrum rents.

I almost used Navy language on the representative before she realized that was a foolish thing to try and convince me of.

I ditched DirecTv sometime ago. I now have their live streaming DirecTv Now. Over 100 channels for $37 a month. Get everything I want and more.
Still have the dish mounted to my roof.
I wanted a pole mounted one in my yard so if I got rid of it I wouldn't have to look at a dish that does nothing mounted on my roof.
They wouldn't do because I would have needed a 30 foot pole to get over the tree line.

I never had a particular difficulty with their service but it was their constant rate hikes that drove me out.
I really enjoy their streaming service.

My dish is on the side of the house and has been for over 15 years. Unstable my ass hmm...Wind howls through here all the damn time, right on top of a knoll.

LMS. I would like to know more specifics of that service please. All the details.

Para, no joke, I have you beat by a mile. When we moved to the farm 10 years ago we got Nathan. Nobody beats Nathan.

It all began with Primestar. I lived in rural Arkansas with no cable available and only one regular channel could be had via antenna, KAIT out of Jonesboro. There was; however, Primestar so I subscribed. A few years later I moved back towards home to rural St Francis County Arkansas and brought my Primestar dish with me. Directv bought Primestar and sent someone to switch it over to them no problems. I sold that house after we got married and we bought the farm. Directv offered free moving of the dish so we took them up on it.

Now the farm borders the Mississippi river with Memphis TN being on the other side of said river. The farm is located in Arkansas. Directv insisted that a tech from Arkansas had to do the move, they would not listen to us that a tech from Memphis would only be 20 minutes away. They insisted that their installer, Nathan, who was located a little over 100 miles away would be the one doing it. Great, whatever.

Nathan kept rescheduling, we would complain to the Indians at Directv and got nowhere. Back and forth, to and fro, finally after we got it escalated to a US customer service whatever at Directv they insisted it would happen and there would be no more BS from Nathan. He would be there at specified time or they would use another yada yada yada. They credited us for the almost month lost and so on.

Well, Nathan is supposed to be there on Saturday morning by noon. Noon rolls by no Nathan. I cuss out Indian at Directv and Nathan on his cell phone. Nathan insists his truck broke down but he would be there. Saturday evening, no Nathan. Saturday night Nathan calls and asks if he can come Sunday. My wife and I didn't figure he would show and would just be trying to get ahold of Directv on Monday anyway so we said sure, come on out Sunday. Sunday rolls around no Nathan.

Sunday afternoon Nathan calls and says he got the water pump on his truck he was on his way. No Nathan. Sunday night a little after 9PM my wife was already getting ready for bed and I was in kitchen when I spy lights coming down our private road (farm house is a little over 2/10 of a mile from the county road - the drive is a private road on our property). What the hell it can't be. I of course shoved a pistol in my waistband as I would anyone comes down that road and slipped my tshirt over it. Astro van pulls up and shuts off. Few minutes later the doorbell rings. It's Nathan! He introduces himself and asks if he could use the restroom it was a long drive. Thinking he is going to take a leak I said OK. He goes in 1/2 bath near the front door. My wife by now has come in and we are just standing there in disbelief as we hear the loudest farting, splashing, gut blowing shit fest either of us had ever heard coming from inside our 1/2 bath. No joke, and he was grunting to go with it. After about 5 minutes that seemed like an hour he came out and let himself out front door. We are still in shock at that point.

He rambles around in the Astro then we spy him through the windows walking around the house and looking at his compass, shining a flashlight around, and basically just wandering around in the dark in confusion. We have outside lights, some come on auto, some other lights we switch on. We had all turned on for Nathan. He then knocks on front door, I answer, and he asks me where we want the dish. I said, I really don't care, but point out my preference. Fortunately the house was wired with coax already. I showed him where the junction box was for that and suggested that it would make sense as it was on the South side of the house. He first suggests the roof, but after looking at Nathan and assessing his agility (or lack thereof) and his competence at doing a leak proof install we opt for the side of house mounting option. I go back inside.

Nathan is not very quick either mental or physical. It is now after 10 and we both have to be at work early Monday. My wife, God bless her, spies out the window and shrieks. I come running. Her timing was perfect to catch Nathans bare ass in full reflection from the halide glow with his pants round his ankles whilst he is pissing on a tree in our back yard. Nathan continues to fiddle fart around and finally mounts a dish and hooks it up. A good while later he knocks again and comes in to do the tone thing and all to set it up and align it. This process takes another 30 minutes or so.
All said and done it was after midnight before Nathan left.

My wife and I were too horrified to look in the 1/2 bath. We paid my sister to come and scope it out and clean it.
That was in February of 2006. I often wonder what became of Nathan. My wife and I when we need a pick me up think about the Nathan experience as a reminder it could always be worse.

Yup, anyone addressing another man as "boss man", in my experience is a present or former penitentiary inhabitant.

The last time DirecTv brought out a 40ft ladder to my parents' house in Michigan, the guy got stung by a bee, went into anaphylactic shock, and fell off the ladder. My dad helped the guy with his epipen, called 911, and the EMT checked him out. He was ok.

Fast forward to last year. My parents' LNB went bad. Guy comes out to look at it, says they need a new style dish, and it can't be mounted where the existing dish was. My dad asks why not and the guy says some tech a few years back got stung by a bee, went into anaphylactic shock, fell off the ladder, and the company (not DirecTv, but the third party service provider DirecTv uses in northern Michigan) no longer lets them install the dishes in those locations. My dad tells the new guy that he met the guy that fell off the ladder.

DTV's problem is they've started using a bunch of 'independent contractors'. The contractors apparently have a huge turnover and their workforce, if you can call it that, is iffy at best. The last DTV tech I had at my house was one of DTV's techs. He was sent to cleanup a lousy job that the contractor left after I fried their support line for just the sort of crap you're talking about.

Sounds like the only thing he did right was call you "boss", boss.

DISH seems to have the same problems. We had some pretty skeevy techs from both outfits. It was a happy day when I got shed of my television and the expense of satellite service.

It's like Verizon's and AT&T's cell service. They both suck. People go back and forth from one to the other.

"40 foot ladder" I dealt with DTV and their friggin 40 foot ladder issue for about 3 weeks. I was told that the closest one they could get to do my install was at the other end of their "district" in Wisconsin. They kept cancelling appointments and offering me free months of service each time (I was an existing customer and moving service to a new house.) I finally called Dish to see if they could hook me up, which they did, no problems, that was 8 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
LMS. I would like to know more specifics of that service please. All the details.

I got in on the inductory offer. I think the same package I have now runs like $60 a month but still worth it imo. Like all streaming services it buffers every now and again but it seems to get better all the time. It's nothing I even really notice but I have a good reliable high speed internet service.

I got the app through my Amazon Fire Tv. If you have a smart tv you may not need Amazon Fire or some other box like Roku. Depends on the browser. You can't access DirecTv Now through Firefox it likes MS Explorer.
I would suggest accessing their web site through Explorer and check out their packages. I think you can get a 7 day free trial.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Personally I would prefer a wall mount to a roof mount.... Something about putting lag screws into the roof on my rental's "new" roof was a turn off to me. As we get Hurricane winds from time to time and a big hole in my "New" roof from a ripped out disk is not very appealing. Also lag bolts going into a new roof is a leak waiting to happen

I am a DirecTV/Home Security tech.

Some basic info. First off, 90% of DirecTV techs work for either Goodman Networks, or Mastec. Those companies also subcontract about 20% of the workforce.

These companies are HSP's (Home Service Providers), and are held to very high standards, the same in fact that the very few inhouse techs are held to.

Turnover is high in all technician fields, and it is damn hard to find people these days who actually take pride in their work. This is the biggest problem. One that all companies have these days it seems.

It's luck of the draw unfortunately, if you get someone like myself, who tries to do everything as perfect as possible. Or you get dimwit the lazyass who is trying every reason possible to blow the job off.

Not making excuses for DirecTV, nor trying to. Just trying to give some info on how you can help yourself not be stuck with a dumbass tech, or in a bad situation.


First off if something seems fishy, ask to talk to the techs supervisor directly. If they don't let you or give some bs excuse. Call DirecTV customer service right then and there.

It's different in every part of the country, but in the midwest the dish gets roughly a 45 degree angle for line of sight. More angle further south, less angle further north. The arm that the lnb sits on for the dish is NOT a good indicator of where the dish is actually pointing. So dishes actually clear things that some people might think will interfere. Also the further away from a possible obstruction you get the easier it can clear it due to the angle to get los from the sats.

Understand that techs do have SOME limitations of dish placement. And DirecTV is responsible for any damages as a result of the placement. With that said, the newer style (HD) KA/KU band dish cannot be placed on a chimney above the roof line(below is fine), or on siding in most cases. This is because the forces that the dish can put on the surface when winds pick up. The roof when it is properly installed in joists is several times stronger than siding that may only be installed into the board and not hit any supports. Techs are also not supposed to get off of their ladder in order to reach a dish per gov't regulations and company policies. Some still will when they feel they can do so safely, and never when the roof is wet or snowcovered. This can prevent the dish from being serviced in adverse weather if your dish isn't ladder accessible.

Most techs and supervisors do not like using 40' ladders simply for the reason that only supervisors have them and every time that customer needs service, it also requires a supervisor to come assist. So we try and find locations that it is not needed.

EVERY damn tech should have the ability to pole mount your system if you choose, as long as line of sight exists. The pole should be sturdy enough to not allow the dish to move.

Properly mounted and sturdy dishes keep most problems from happening to begin with, and your system should not experience an outage unless you have very heavy rain nearby.

The entire job should be brought up to code and all issues fixed by any tech who comes to your house for any reason. Improper or unapproved connectors are the #1 service driving issue.

I personally wish more techs were like myself and several others i work with. Those of us that "get it" try like hell to spread that to others. With a good customer service oriented attitude, and the pride in doing a great job. Try to make them understand that while you are at a customers house, you are the face of the company for them. You are what they see as DirecTV, and the perception that the customer has of the ENTIRE company can be molded by your actions and attitude. Nobody is perfect, but dammit you can at least try.

Problem is, it seems more and more people we hire don't even want to try. It's frustrating as hell.

I don't get on here as much as i used to, but i will certainly try to help with any related questions you may have, and check regularly. Not as an employee, but simply as a fellow member of SigForum wanting to help some guys out.

Hard to follow that post, and sorry you had that experience para. I have had a mixed bag: ordered a 4k box after I got a 4k TV. Tech shows up without the box?? That was literally the ONLY reason I called.

Got my dish mounted on a pole now, next to the house--prior house was a roof mount. Hasn't needed an adjustment in five+ years.

This is not about Dish/Direct but a slime ball company COX.
Went to Cox store on a Wednesday signed up. Told I could make cable/TV work on my own but if a problem call and no charge for install.
Problems so called installer to arrive on Friday, did no show new installer will be there Monday. showed up Tuesday.
Installer told me we could not installed service disconnected at street.
Cable/Internet quit on Thursday called and different installer arrives on Saturday says first guy did all install wrong fixed it.
Found out latter billed for 2 install trips.
Following Wednesday all service stopped. Called advise area wide outage.
Friday went to Cox store to inquire and advised no outage would send a repairman on Saturday.
Repairman checks all and tells me your service was discounted at street by COX> !!
Called customer service and after speaking to several reps got one with brains found out disconnect order had been placed 5 months previous and COX had just got around to doing it even though it and been done 5 months ago and first disconnect was why I could not install myself.
Went to COX store with full head of steam asked to see store manager was finally able to. He was not at all concerned, did
say he had no idea why the disconnect and he would take the 2 install charges off, that I was told I would not be billed for,but no credit for missed service.
In the mean time I received a letter from Expedian (SP) Credit
about my bad credit. Called EXPEDIAN and it seems COX made me pay deposit on boxes because I had bad credit. Asked rep WTF she advised my credit was fine paid $7.95 to find out I had a credit score of 826 out of 850 and she added the letter has originated with COX not them !!

I think Directv and AT&T are the same company now.

In the past I have had some terrible experiences with Direct but living in the country and due to limitations with the direction my dish could be place, I had no other choices.
The most important thing I learned; don't deal with regular, so called customer service. Call and get to the customer retention department and try to get a direct number for the future. Regular customer service job one ids to tell you no. Customer retention can do anything you need and right now.
My most recent experience was after the merger with AT&T and was on a different level. The rep was able to get me newer and much better hardware, a much lower rate plan and was very helpful.
The tech was also very competent, and except for the 12-5pm window (not his fault), gave excellent service.
So the lesson is, call up and tell them you want to disconnect (they will send you to the customer retention department), you will go to another world, and things should be much better.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I think Directv and AT&T are the same company now.

In the past I have had some terrible experiences with Direct but living in the country and due to limitations with the direction my dish could be place, I had no other choices.
The most important thing I learned; don't deal with regular, so called customer service. Call and get to the customer retention department and try to get a direct number for the future. Regular customer service job one ids to tell you no. Customer retention can do anything you need and right now.
My most recent experience was after the merger with AT&T and was on a different level. The rep was able to get me newer and much better hardware, a much lower rate plan and was very helpful.
The tech was also very competent, and except for the 12-5pm window (not his fault), gave excellent service.
So the lesson is, call up and tell them you want to disconnect (they will send you to the customer retention department), you will go to another world, and things should be much better.

This^^^

Being in the industry it has saddened me to see the state that it is now in. the companies are so big that you really have to learn how to deal with them to get what you want.

It's all of them.

And they are all the same in that respect.