U-verse upgrade, day four and counting

When my U-verse service was installed on July 24 I was given receivers instead of DVRs because, or so I was told, there was a DVR shortage at .the time. I still had paid-up Comcast service at the time so I continued to use that. I retuned the Comcast equipment on September 7 and connected the U-verse equipment. I called AT&T that night and asked about the availability of DVRs. The support person said she would put in an order for an upgrade. She called it an upgrade from non-DVR service (not sure of the exact name) to service with a DVR. I called it getting what I was supposed to have from the start. She ended the order. At that point my existing service stopped working and I have had no service of any kind since. Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... 

I had an appointment for Saturday,  8 am to 8 pm. No one came, no one called.

I inquired and was told that a technician would deliver the DVRs on Sunday. That didn’t happen.

I had an appointment for Monday. No one came, no one called. Same story today, Tuesday.

I’ve spoken to 4 or 5 support people and have chatted with 4 or 5. All seemed to be reading from the same script, first apologizing, then assuring me that my satisfaction was their top priority, aaauring me that they would take care of the problem, etc. Everytging except actual help.

Is this normal for AT&T support? Is there any way to escalate a problem? All I know about is the 800 number and online chat. Can a local office help? Should I stand by the street and flag down the next AT&T truck I see?