D* Customer Service & a Gee Whiz!

[DaveO]

Well, I spent my first time in the DTV voice mail roundabout today, for about 30 minutes until I got to a voice. Seems that you have to listen to every option, and hope you get it right or you start right over again.

I am a long time Dish owner, started out with a model 5000 way back. I subscribed to DTV last early summer as I wanted to check them out, and see which service would come up with the best HDTV deal. I already had the TV that I purchased for last January's superbowl.

Anyway after several calls to DTV, and customer support saying there were no projected deals for HDTV receivers, I jumped on the Dish network 811 deal for $149.00. Can't beat that with a stick so DTV will lose me when my year runs out.

This week my GAEBOA (Hughes) receiver decided to stop working. After checking things out many different ways, including borrowing another receiver (which worked), it had to be my receiver. After a long time circling the voice mail I got a tech rep who determined after we tried a couple of things, that yes, it was bad.
Then I was told that it will cost $30.00 to repair it, and $49.00 for fast turnaround refurb. I never did look closely at that warranty, but she was correct-it's only covered for 90 days labor, one year parts as I found out after RTFM. Anyway, my less than happy response (after telling her that I would no longer be a subscriber after my term) generated: I guess we can go ahead and waive the charges, and I'll ship one to you with a return label, Fedex, no charge.

So, now I'm informed at the less than good warranty on the equipment, but happy that I got a decent tech support person. They still won't do any better than $399.00 for a HDTV receiver..

 

[jabroni]

When calling the Directv 800 number, hit "0" as soon as you can.

I thought I heard a rumor that Dish was going to giving away the HD receivers to new customers?

 

[keith]

It is true that the 811 is free for new customers. But, if you have ever had Dish in the past, you won't be considered to be a new customer when you switch back.

Keith.

 

[DaveO]

This week my GAEBOA (Hughes) receiver decided to stop working. After checking things out many different ways, including borrowing another receiver (which worked), it had to be my receiver. After a long time circling the voice mail I got a tech rep who determined after we tried a couple of things, that yes, it was bad.
Then I was told that it will cost $30.00 to repair it, and $49.00 for fast turnaround refurb. I never did look closely at that warranty, but she was correct-it's only covered for 90 days labor, one year parts as I found out after RTFM. Anyway, my less than happy response (after telling her that I would no longer be a subscriber after my term) generated: I guess we can go ahead and waive the charges, and I'll ship one to you with a return label, Fedex, no charge.

Well, I got the replacement receiver, but it is a real cheapo plastic top RCA, instead of my Hughes GAEBOA.

I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth as it was free, but my hughes director was only 8 months old!

 

[DaveO]

Re: D* Customer Service & a Gee Whiz! -- UPDATE!!

Well, I spent my first time in the DTV voice mail roundabout today, for about 30 minutes until I got to a voice. Seems that you have to listen to every option, and hope you get it right or you start right over again.

I am a long time Dish owner, started out with a model 5000 way back. I subscribed to DTV last early summer as I wanted to check them out, and see which service would come up with the best HDTV deal. I already had the TV that I purchased for last January's superbowl.

Anyway after several calls to DTV, and customer support saying there were no projected deals for HDTV receivers, I jumped on the Dish network 811 deal for $149.00. Can't beat that with a stick so DTV will lose me when my year runs out.

This week my GAEBOA (Hughes) receiver decided to stop working. After checking things out many different ways, including borrowing another receiver (which worked), it had to be my receiver. After a long time circling the voice mail I got a tech rep who determined after we tried a couple of things, that yes, it was bad.
Then I was told that it will cost $30.00 to repair it, and $49.00 for fast turnaround refurb. I never did look closely at that warranty, but she was correct-it's only covered for 90 days labor, one year parts as I found out after RTFM. Anyway, my less than happy response (after telling her that I would no longer be a subscriber after my term) generated: I guess we can go ahead and waive the charges, and I'll ship one to you with a return label, Fedex, no charge.

So, now I'm informed at the less than good warranty on the equipment, but happy that I got a decent tech support person. They still won't do any better than $399.00 for a HDTV receiver..

Ohboy what a mess!!

#1, the replacement receiver is a POS cheapo RCA receiver, which is nowhere as good as my Hughes Director pack receiver.

And.. I got a letter yesterday from DTV:

#2, they charged me $30.00, which the tech said would be waived.

#3, they said I had agreed to subscribe for an additional year from the point or the replacement receiver.

Well.. After over an hour of being passed from person to person, and having to explain the situation from the beginning again, #4 agreed to waive the cost AND the additional year of subscription.

I can't believe that they tried to sneak that by, but there was no way I was going to allow it to happen.

The moral? Be alert and write down all conversations, dates, and confirmation numbers when you speak to a tech.