@Jfc4cars wrote:
I young man stopped at my house today saying that UVerse is going to be replaced by Direct TV. Is this true? If so I may go back to cable.
I'm sure this young man was selling DIRECTV. You know how to tell when a saleman is lying, don't you?
He said he was with ATT. I did see that on his jacket or I'd tag as I recall. I could see sharing some of the assets if you will but he, by what he said to me, gave me the very real impression that Uverse would with in a year or two go away. I get the bandwidth thing but I've had satellite before and here in north east Ohio with the weather it goes out too often. He said there is a big difference between Dish and Direct, I had Dish but I know a number of people who have direct and they say the same thing. I am getting closer to the point of dropping it all except Internet and using some of the streaming services. The price just keeps going up and up. And after paying $7 a month for each tv for years, if your remote wears out they make you pay for a new one...it's getting to be too much.
I asked the last tech I had out here if they were training for Directv service calls. He said yes 5 at a time. I also asked him if U-Verse TV would be phased out. He said no but their would be no more expansion.
I was wondering how AT&T was going to go forward with DTV installs. I'm a former "evil" contractor of DTV many years ago. Does that mean the current inhouse DTV employees will be trained on U-verse stuff as well? Will they be brought into the union or will it be another fight like the early u-verse crew was.
The company added 26,000 DirecTV subscribers, but lost 91,000 U-verse TV bringing its total to 25.4 million video subscribers.
U Verse rarely loses TV customers because they give such large bonuses to sign new customers. That looks like it has changed. Uverse will run in place for a few years, then they will have to figure out if it is more profitable to move everyone to DTV. They may raise UVerse rates so high that people migrate to DTV anyway.
Word has it that retention is not as generous to U-verse customers looking for a sweet deal as they had been.
And, the sales people have been turned loose to sell DIRECTV bundled with Cell phones, which means they're not trying to sell U-verse. Part of this may be trying to reassure nervous AT&T stock holders that the deal was a good one.
Satellite TV is not for everyone. Service that has to be delivered by a physical wire is not for everyone either. Satellite Internet is for very few.
They're talking about combining into one in-home platform and U-verse IPTV vs Satellite just being two different ways of providing content.
Word has it that retention is not as generous to U-verse customers looking for a sweet deal as they had been.
And, the sales people have been turned loose to sell DIRECTV bundled with Cell phones, which means they're not trying to sell U-verse. Part of this may be trying to reassure nervous AT&T stock holders that the deal was a good one.
Satellite TV is not for everyone. Service that has to be delivered by a physical wire is not for everyone either. Satellite Internet is for very few.
They're talking about combining into one in-home platform and U-verse IPTV vs Satellite just being two different ways of providing content.
That certainly wouldn't surprise me. That being said if I can't work out a deal with retention when my contract ends in July I will be gone. No Directv for me. My brother has Uverse and I know he feels the same way.
Just called today to get a new Uverse promo..... only thing I was offered was a good deal on DirectTV.... Very irritated and likely to switch to a different company (that I dislike) just out of irritation with this shift.
We get to much snow/ice/crummy weather for a dish, and the whole principle of the thing- making your own loyal customers change services to get a decent price just rubs me the wrong way.
The company added 26,000 DirecTV subscribers, but lost 91,000 U-verse TV bringing its total to 25.4 million video subscribers.
U Verse rarely loses TV customers because they give such large bonuses to sign new customers. That looks like it has changed. Uverse will run in place for a few years, then they will have to figure out if it is more profitable to move everyone to DTV. They may raise UVerse rates so high that people migrate to DTV anyway.
I'll migrate all right. But it won't be to Directv.
Very interesting. I noticed my Uverse bill had gone up by about $13 the other day and did my usual call to retention to see if I could get a better deal. In the past, I ALWAYS got some kind of deal that brought it down enough to keep me quiet until a discount would expire and I'd have to call again. This time, the first thing out of the guys mouth was DirectTV. I told him NO, NO, NO...told him to take it off the table. I have had too many people tell me how how much they hate satellite -- Dish/DirectTV, doesn't matter...it seems to always go out in bad weather. He told me I already had all the discounts they could offer now and unless I wanted to downgrade my service or switch to DirectTV, he couldn't help me. That was officially the first time ever that ATT has not been able to lower my bill by any amount. I was very irritated. The bill is just getting too high and Time Warner has some good deals now. I am seriously thinking of taking my Uverse Phone/Internet/TV to Time Warner. I have some bigger discounts expiring in May and am going to call in April. If they can't extend my discount or offer something else, I'm gone, gone, gone. I am paying a bit over $200 a month now. I refuse to pay more.
I have to say I am sad and at the same time quite a bit irritated to hear of this. I absolutely hate Direct TV. I also choose a company based on the fact that I plan to stay with them for years, not a year, I do not have the time to shop around every year becuse a company decides to make a big change like this. I have always bundled all of my services with Verizon, because they are dependable. Unfortunately they do not have cable yet where I live, nor high speed Internet. I was so happy to hear when we had a new option for cable /Internet, AT&T. I jumped ship the next day to get out from under the strangle hold of the only cable company available, Charter. It's amazing how companies treat you when they know you have no other option, same goes for the dam electric companies. I believe everyone should have a choice between at least 2. Anyway it looks like I may have to go back, because Direct TV will not be an option for me 🙂
To update, I did have much better luck using the Customer Care email through this forum. I was contacted by a manager who was able to offer me a new deal with my Uverse, maintaining the same services and for pretty much the same price, which is what I was aiming for.
I am much less irritated for now, but I expect to run into this problem again next year, and likely will have to add on yet another step to find the correct person who can make me the offer that I'm seeking.
Having to do this dance every year is so frustrating, and while I know they are a business out to make a profit, this isn't the best way to maintain a strong customer base.
AT&T has to convince the investors that purchasing DIRECTV wasn't a mistake and is giving the sales force all sorts of incentives to sell, SELL, SELLDIRECTV. Otherwise, the CEO may get run out of town.
There is no clear evidence that AT&T intends to shut down U-verse TV (although they may, I still rather doubt it), but they will likely combine the U-verse TV and DIRECTV brands and have announced plans for a common equipment platform to be released this year.
AT&T may not get rid of Uverse but they may allow it to die a slow death while gouging customers the entire time. Make new channels available only on DTV, have sweetheart deals only on DTV, make the latest technology available only on DTV and on and on. The point of the acquisition was to limit the number of options the viewing public has. AT&T has no incentive to have its two offerings competing against each other. There is no logical scenario that has Uverse customers coming out ahead in this drama.
JefferMC
ACE - Expert
•
36.9K Messages
9 years ago
I'm sure this young man was selling DIRECTV. You know how to tell when a saleman is lying, don't you?
1 Attachment
0
0
Jfc4cars
Contributor
•
2 Messages
9 years ago
He said he was with ATT. I did see that on his jacket or I'd tag as I recall. I could see sharing some of the assets if you will but he, by what he said to me, gave me the very real impression that Uverse would with in a year or two go away. I get the bandwidth thing but I've had satellite before and here in north east Ohio with the weather it goes out too often. He said there is a big difference between Dish and Direct, I had Dish but I know a number of people who have direct and they say the same thing. I am getting closer to the point of dropping it all except Internet and using some of the streaming services. The price just keeps going up and up. And after paying $7 a month for each tv for years, if your remote wears out they make you pay for a new one...it's getting to be too much.
0
0
Anonymous
1.9K Messages
9 years ago
Every bar I have ever been to that had Direc TV lost signal during a storm. EVERY ONE! And I have been to more bars than my fair share.
0
0
Anonymous
1.9K Messages
9 years ago
I asked the last tech I had out here if they were training for Directv service calls. He said yes 5 at a time. I also asked him if U-Verse TV would be phased out. He said no but their would be no more expansion.
0
0
buckeyegoose
Scholar
•
30 Messages
9 years ago
I was wondering how AT&T was going to go forward with DTV installs. I'm a former "evil" contractor of DTV many years ago. Does that mean the current inhouse DTV employees will be trained on U-verse stuff as well? Will they be brought into the union or will it be another fight like the early u-verse crew was.
0
0
mitchflorida
Scholar
•
187 Messages
9 years ago
Look at this stat released today:
The company added 26,000 DirecTV subscribers, but lost 91,000 U-verse TV bringing its total to 25.4 million video subscribers.
U Verse rarely loses TV customers because they give such large bonuses to sign new customers. That looks like it has changed. Uverse will run in place for a few years, then they will have to figure out if it is more profitable to move everyone to DTV. They may raise UVerse rates so high that people migrate to DTV anyway.
0
0
JefferMC
ACE - Expert
•
36.9K Messages
9 years ago
Word has it that retention is not as generous to U-verse customers looking for a sweet deal as they had been.
And, the sales people have been turned loose to sell DIRECTV bundled with Cell phones, which means they're not trying to sell U-verse. Part of this may be trying to reassure nervous AT&T stock holders that the deal was a good one.
Satellite TV is not for everyone. Service that has to be delivered by a physical wire is not for everyone either. Satellite Internet is for very few.
They're talking about combining into one in-home platform and U-verse IPTV vs Satellite just being two different ways of providing content.
0
0
Anonymous
1.9K Messages
9 years ago
That certainly wouldn't surprise me. That being said if I can't work out a deal with retention when my contract ends in July I will be gone. No Directv for me. My brother has Uverse and I know he feels the same way.
0
0
shelhill
Voyager
•
4 Messages
9 years ago
Just called today to get a new Uverse promo..... only thing I was offered was a good deal on DirectTV.... Very irritated and likely to switch to a different company (that I dislike) just out of irritation with this shift.
We get to much snow/ice/crummy weather for a dish, and the whole principle of the thing- making your own loyal customers change services to get a decent price just rubs me the wrong way.
0
0
Anonymous
1.9K Messages
9 years ago
I'll migrate all right. But it won't be to Directv.
0
0
terigirl1960
Contributor
•
2 Messages
9 years ago
Very interesting. I noticed my Uverse bill had gone up by about $13 the other day and did my usual call to retention to see if I could get a better deal. In the past, I ALWAYS got some kind of deal that brought it down enough to keep me quiet until a discount would expire and I'd have to call again. This time, the first thing out of the guys mouth was DirectTV. I told him NO, NO, NO...told him to take it off the table. I have had too many people tell me how how much they hate satellite -- Dish/DirectTV, doesn't matter...it seems to always go out in bad weather. He told me I already had all the discounts they could offer now and unless I wanted to downgrade my service or switch to DirectTV, he couldn't help me. That was officially the first time ever that ATT has not been able to lower my bill by any amount. I was very irritated. The bill is just getting too high and Time Warner has some good deals now. I am seriously thinking of taking my Uverse Phone/Internet/TV to Time Warner. I have some bigger discounts expiring in May and am going to call in April. If they can't extend my discount or offer something else, I'm gone, gone, gone. I am paying a bit over $200 a month now. I refuse to pay more.
0
0
Tbrigman
Contributor
•
1 Message
9 years ago
0
0
shelhill
Voyager
•
4 Messages
9 years ago
To update, I did have much better luck using the Customer Care email through this forum. I was contacted by a manager who was able to offer me a new deal with my Uverse, maintaining the same services and for pretty much the same price, which is what I was aiming for.
I am much less irritated for now, but I expect to run into this problem again next year, and likely will have to add on yet another step to find the correct person who can make me the offer that I'm seeking.
Having to do this dance every year is so frustrating, and while I know they are a business out to make a profit, this isn't the best way to maintain a strong customer base.
0
0
JefferMC
ACE - Expert
•
36.9K Messages
9 years ago
AT&T has to convince the investors that purchasing DIRECTV wasn't a mistake and is giving the sales force all sorts of incentives to sell, SELL, SELL DIRECTV. Otherwise, the CEO may get run out of town.
There is no clear evidence that AT&T intends to shut down U-verse TV (although they may, I still rather doubt it), but they will likely combine the U-verse TV and DIRECTV brands and have announced plans for a common equipment platform to be released this year.
0
0
marcindublin
Guru
•
96 Messages
9 years ago
AT&T may not get rid of Uverse but they may allow it to die a slow death while gouging customers the entire time. Make new channels available only on DTV, have sweetheart deals only on DTV, make the latest technology available only on DTV and on and on. The point of the acquisition was to limit the number of options the viewing public has. AT&T has no incentive to have its two offerings competing against each other. There is no logical scenario that has Uverse customers coming out ahead in this drama.
Resistance is futile.
0
0