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I'M VERY DISSATISFIED WITH DIRECT TV. I'VE BEEN A CUSTOMER FOR 20+YEARS WITH NO COMPLAINTS. SINCE AT&T TOOK OVER, NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS
I'M VERY DISSATISFIED WITH AT&T DIRECT TV. I've been a costumer with Direct tv for 20+ years. since AT&T took over ive had nothing but problems. im switching to Dish Network. the latest problem, as of today, has been going on since April 23, 2021. ive spoken with 20 different people, multiple departments per call and minimum call time 1 hr with the longest being 2 1/2 hours. today i thought the problem was finally fixed, but no, it went from bad to worse. April 10th i ordered an additional stand alone receiver. i got it but after a week it stopped working. i called and a replacement was sent to me and i returned the old one via UPS per their directions. since then ive had a past due on my bill. i called over and over again to fix the problem. each time and each department gave me a different reason for the issue. mostly i was told it was because the old receiver wasnt received or it was received and not processed yet. eventually the past due in their computer caught up and disconnected our service. im a caregiver for my disabled sister and brother and elderly mother. they NEED their tvs. this week alone our service has been turned off twice because of this issue. today i found out the additional fee wasnt from a not-returned unit. its because i was charged twice for one receiver. i was charged for the original unit and also for the REPLACEMENT unit. in one of the multiple departments i talked to today, i was asked for the receiver IDs for each receiver. that turned out being the going from bad to worse. the billing issue was corrected. but 20 minutes after speaking with the last person in the last department, loyalty department (my butt), my sister called for me on the walkie talkie. her tv wasnt working again. every other tv was ok. her error message was to refresh her receiver. i went on line and tried to do it.. but all receivers were not connected. i called AT&T for the second time today. after another 2 hours and going thru the same old story for the 20+ times i explained about the receiver needing to be refreshed. after 2 hours it turns out it could not be refreshed AT ALL. it was disconnected today, more than likely by the department i gave the receiver IDs to. I was told AT&T no longer services stand alone receivers. they're not even selling them. the only option they will be offering is the Genie system. we have 5 receivers in this house and have tried the genie. it didnt work for us. some couldnt record because the time slots were full. and we had some deleting recorded programs that belonged to others. so we went back to the stand alone units. there was no notice from AT&T warning of this issue. now, my bed ridden sister is without a tv for at least 3 days while we wait for a tech to come out and install a FRIGGING GENIE!!!
the customer support has too many departments, not well trained (the double charge shouldnt have happened in the first place but most definatley should have been identified the first time i called), trying to speak with folks with accents and speed talking i couldnd understand. and i got soooooooo tired of hear "im sorry" and "just a moment".
my sister was once again upset over her tv being out. by the end of the last call i was at the end of my emotional rope.
then i had to explain to my sister that she's not going to have tv for 3 days she went off the emotional deep end. ive been yelled at by all 3 family members during these 3 disconnection of services in 3 days, including this morning. i had an emotional melt down. i started crying and couldnt stop. this is ALL due to lack of knowledge and care from AT&T.
i am going to contact which ever government department that over looks these companies and make a formal complaint. i am also going to contact a lawyer. i will be looking into either a personal (Edited per community guidelines) for pain and suffering or a (Edited per community guidelines) suit for the same thing. im sure im NOT the only one who has suffered at the hands of this uncaring, money hungry company (out-sorceing our calls to another country that has no idea what the heck they are doing and cant communicate with me in order to save money instead of taking care of their customers.)
it any one from AT&T reads this, you guys (Edited per community guidelines) on the direct tv. i may even change phone companies as well.
shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.3K Messages
4 years ago
You are limited to binding arbitration.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
What are the models of each box you have now? Perhaps some of them work with the Genie. Do NOT replace any compatible receivers with Mini Genie Clients or that will be a huge downgrade, especially since the Genie only supports up to 3 Clients in use at one time (so 4 TVs max counting the Genie itself) because of the 5 tuners that are shared (2 kept to the Genie, which is why only 3 Clients at most).
Even sorting out the optimum setup that will work best for you, I would consider a BBB complaint with this situation. They need to do a better job training their agents on how DirecTV equipment works to ensure you don't end up with something sub-standard by replacing something you didn't need to.
As for whom you are going to contact, the Terms of Service do limit you to binding arbitration. Just mentioning before you pay for someone who ultimately will not be able to do what you want.
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.3K Messages
4 years ago
According to the OP DTV is no longer allowing HR24s or lower to be activated and is the second post with this info.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
If they truly are not allow activation of HR24s, that is horrible. That is the last regular HDDVR and is compatible with all Genie setups, except the Genie-2 (HS17) as that only allows Clients.
There better be a new HDDVR in the works. I could accept this if a SWM-only HDDVR, such as an HR25 (NOT a real model number at this time) was about to be released. Though would still be annoying that they didn't announce something like that first. Some of us have the need for dedicated tuners, at least 9 tuners, and to not have everybody messing with the same recording list.
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TexasBrit
ACE - Expert
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14.1K Messages
4 years ago
I saw a post from someone who received a replacement HR24 from Directv and then could not get it activated. What a mess!
I could just about understand directv wanting stand-alone systems to be genies but their policy would be a disaster if they are applying it to those people with multiple boxes.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
I currently have a Genie (2nd gen, HR44) and 2 HR24s for the living room and 2 bedrooms. Everybody watches shows so different that our own dedicated tuners and recording space means we are not mixing everybody up or having someone deleting another's recordings. Plus with heavy usage (some with medical issues) and shows having overlapping times, we needed 9 tuners to go around as less than that and we had recording conflicts. Plus if a box goes down, or simply unplugged (found my cat was able to get to the Genie's power cord causing it to be loose and resetting often until I rearranged it), then the other boxes still work so helps for our piece of mind.
Those reasons is why I cannot have Clients, and certainly not the Genie-2 (HS17) as that forbids anything but Clients. If it allowed full receivers then, and only then, could my household consider it.
They can replace one with a Client when they wrench a good HDDVR from my cold dead hands.
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shado133
New Member
4 years ago
thanks everyone! ive had time to settle down and think about other options with fixing this. i dont know if any will work out but im gonna try. im hoping real hard that the tech who is coming out saturday will be the one who has serviced us many times in the past. i will explain the situation to him BEFORE he brings in the genie. maybe he can re-activate the receiver; his company has another stand alone receiver in shop and can replace this one. or has another idea to fix this without the genie. if the genie, which is my receiver, goes out then everyone on the genie will loose their signals as well. having all data going to one server is a very bad idea for every one!!!! and by the way, the model is a HR24.
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shado133
New Member
4 years ago
wow! i just noticed that my original post was edited in couple of places. what was edited wasnt bad language or anything bad. so much for free speech. :-(
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shado133
New Member
4 years ago
what is "binding arbitration?"
i did get my sister back to watching tv. i took my receiver into her room for her. that made her fairly happy again. but she's not looking forward to the genie. :-(
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
You can be edited for more than bad language. Personal info is not allowed, as well as certain topics. Comes down to "Free Speech" does not apply to a privately owned forum, even if open to the public. They can moderate it within their own rules.
For more info regarding arbitration:
Terms of Service - Legal Policy Center - AT&T (att.com)
See section:
8. DISPUTE RESOLUTION BY BINDING ARBITRATION
(edited)
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.3K Messages
4 years ago
Binding arbitration is where you and a rep from DTV go before an appointed judge to work out a deal.
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shado133
New Member
4 years ago
AAhhhh!!! they botched it again. a tech was scheduled to come out yesterday, saturday, to hook up becky's tv. at 4:45 on saturday i get a call from a rep telling me our appt has been rescheduled to next wednesday. NEXT WEDNESDAY? i was so frigging mad. the rep said they called friday to let us know. well... mom doesnt answer the phone for one. i was outside for two, and third if i had thought they would call to cancel i would have been inside. the tech always call when he is on the way so i wasnt expecting a call until saturday. where ever these reps are from do not have up to date information. the appt should not have been made without confirming it with the tech contractor. THAT MEANS WE'RE DOWN ON TV FOR ANOTHER 4 DAYS! horrible customer service.
another issue that has rose up is ive gotten a couple of emails saying ive agreed to a 24 month extension on our contract. there should be no additional cost or extension. all this is their fault, not ours.
i do believe im going to open an arbitration.
thanks for the info!
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.3K Messages
4 years ago
The CSRs only see a calendar page with open appointments then they select whichever one you want then it is sent to the dispatch center that controls the techs.
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shado133
New Member
4 years ago
thank you shannon02. i understand that what they see on screen is what they have to choose from. my gripe is that the screen is not up to date, either due to AT&T or the contractor not sending the update available appointments. its just been a bad, horrible experience here at home with all this stuff.
thanks again. :-)
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
It is not that the screen is up to date. The problem is that with the pandemic they are short staffed on techs. So if some jobs take longer than expected, tech calls out for some reason, etc. then they don't have enough wiggle room and must reschedule occasionally. Hopefully as stay at home restrictions are reducing and people get back to work outside of the home, and AT&T can start hiring and training more techs (as they become available as you cannot force someone to work for any given company), this issue will become less and less through the coming months.
They call to notify but nobody picks up then that is not on DirecTV. Though if you have voicemail or an answering machine they should leave a short message at least.
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