hell I live alone and have more than 3 things recording at one time on some nights....Friday I'll max out the 5 tuners.
Deposit required based on credit check???
- Thread starter dave940
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 35
- Views 25K
- Status
hell I live alone and have more than 3 things recording at one time on some nights....Friday I'll max out the 5 tuners.
I suppose "incompetent" was a little harsh. Perhaps "misinformed and misleading"? The fact remains that more than one Directv rep told me that Experian was used for the credit check. I suppose that it was my fault that I was so cheap, I could have spent $15 to get my credit thawed from all three agencies. That would have saved two days of grief in trying to get an accurate and fair quote on the installation cost. As it happened, I ended up spending more than that... five bucks to thaw credit with Experian... plus the $7.99 to buy my Experian credit score when I was convinced that my credit rating must have taken a dive recently... then five more dollars to Equifax two days later after a Directv supervisor sheepishly informed me of the correct agency. It was believable, I lost a job in 2008 as a 20 year employee from a plant closure, then struggled to get back above 50% of that salary only recently, and I began to suspect that my job jumping had caused the problem. I miss the good old days when one of my credit card issuers (I forget which one) allowed you to see your credit score from one of those credit reporting agencies (I also forget which, but that doesn't matter now because no one does that for free anymore).
Egg on your face for your credit knowledge, though. First, most companies check credit by only pulling from one of the three reporting agencies, assuming that each will have comparable information, and Directv is definitely not using Experian as I found out the hard way. As for the points, there's no way that my FICO score could be as high as I posted... but all three credit agencies have been in a pissing war with FICO, and the score that I posted from Experian is based on a scale that they created to compete with FICO's system. If you wish to perform a simple test to see what I mean, spend a little time and $7.99 on Experian's site. You can purchase and view your own score and learn not so call someone a liar so quickly.
As it happens, all was straightened out this morning and the whole house DVR from Directv will hopefully be worth two days of aggravation. Dish Network gave me a callback shortly afterward, I notified their rep that their 722 DVR offer fell far too short of my needs, at any price. She asked if she could call back on Thursday morning with another offer, I suppose they are not able to offer information on whatever competing system they will be unveiling before then. Installation is this Saturday, I suppose I could still cancel but I'm not really interested in being a beta tester for some new setup, I'm getting too old for that. Long time lurker, first thread post... FUN!
I made my last "knee jerk" post before I made it this far.
No, they can't "see the person's history". They either see nothing, if a consumer places a freeze on their credit, or they see a score/category which they will use to decide what "offers" will be eligible.
I've never called anyone a "fanboy" but I'm damn near it now.
I get my credit reports for free every year from annualcreditreport.com. only really free place to get them.
Good consumer advice! I went that route at first, but you really don't get details that way...then I took the big dive and bought my Experian "fako score" when I was convinced that there was some sort of problem with my credit.
Good consumer advice! I went that route at first, but you really don't get details that way...then I took the big dive and bought my Experian "fako score" when I was convinced that there was some sort of problem with my credit.
Last edited:
This whole discussion has NOTHING to do with "fanboy" about anything ...
All companies look at your credit score when deciding if you qualify for something.
this has turned into a big yawn.. we all know how credit and scores work (and VERY WELL I might add); hell my ex has been in the financial biz for over 25+ years so trust me we can tell you what companies can see and what they can do. and like I said before there is no need for any of us to be arguing about your score and your credit and how DirecTV want to deal with you. whipping out the fanboy stuff to derail the topic and take cheap shots at folks makes me think even more that there is more to this than meets the eye. Also as said before, instead of the continued arguing over stuff no one here can change; either talk to someone like Claude who can maybe help, pay the deposit amount or choose another provider. DONE!
Thanks to everyone's input. I have relied on this and a few other forums over the last few years for the kind of info you can't get on other sites which don't specialize in satellite TV. I would like to make this last post to reinforce some points, especially to charper1 who hasn't apparently read all of what I have posted. First, I wish I could change the title of the thread. I was not questioning why Directv would want to check credit or penalize a customer for bad credit. Because of being misinformed by Directv CS reps on their source of credit info, I wasted two days trying to set up installation and negotiating with their only competition for the same equipment setup I used from 2007-2011, but no longer want (722 DVR). I'm sure that this board is used by Directv employees, not just their devotees, and I hope that would use my situation to ensure that all of their CS reps inform their potential customers correctly. I'm sure one guy didn't really matter to their bottom line, but they almost lost me as a customer this week. If Dish had a similar setup and it were proven as well as Directv's whole house DVR setup, I wouldn't have spent the effort to become a Directv customer.
Any consumer advocate who offers unbiased advice will tell you that freezing credit with all three credit reporting agencies is the only effective way to stop thieves from opening accounts in your name. Directv (or anyone else using the system to establish credit worthiness of a customer) would be wise to ensure that their CS reps are properly informed in this type of situation. When a CS rep runs the credit check, they shouldn't just blindly tell a customer that they don't qualify for discounted installation or programming... the CS rep should inform the customer exactly what happened, and what credit agency was used to attempt the check. Sure, Directv can profit from the extra fees, but is this worth driving some of them to the other provider?
Again, thanks for the input from everyone, it has been valuable, except for charper1's slander and outdated info.
Any consumer advocate who offers unbiased advice will tell you that freezing credit with all three credit reporting agencies is the only effective way to stop thieves from opening accounts in your name. Directv (or anyone else using the system to establish credit worthiness of a customer) would be wise to ensure that their CS reps are properly informed in this type of situation. When a CS rep runs the credit check, they shouldn't just blindly tell a customer that they don't qualify for discounted installation or programming... the CS rep should inform the customer exactly what happened, and what credit agency was used to attempt the check. Sure, Directv can profit from the extra fees, but is this worth driving some of them to the other provider?
Again, thanks for the input from everyone, it has been valuable, except for charper1's slander and outdated info.
i thought the law stated if you are turned down, the consumer is suppose to get a letter telling what they were turned down. i don't recall if the credit agency used has to be disclosed.
I guess that wasn't my last post after all. I still feel the need to explain to those who are willing to read my posts, so please bear with me.
I wasn't "turned down" for credit by Directv, and I suspect they approve nearly all customers, just change the terms to suit the situation. Directv checks credit, then decides what "offers" you qualify for based on their credit check with Equifax. In my case, I was simply told that I did not qualify for free installation, monthly service discounts, and had to post a large deposit and receiver fees. Only because I questioned why and talked to more than one rep, I found out that Directv could not get my credit score, supposedly from Experian. Thus the credit thaw with Experian and the two day wild goose chase. After this, I was even told by the CS rep two days (after repeated calls to see if the check could be done) later to call Experian on my cellphone while she stayed on hold to verify that my credit was thawed. This on a prepaid cellphone with the meter running and being on hold. Experian assured me that it was thawed, so the ball was back in Directv's court. Someone at the supervisor level finally intervened and I learned that I should have been contacting Equifax for the thaw. It is possible that Directv shops around like everyone else, and had used Experian in the past, thus the confusion. The issue was resolved and pending installation this Saturday, I am once again a Directv customer.
I'm sure that "Claude" could verify all of this if he is a Directv rep and reads these posts. If this incident wasn't used as a learning experience for their reps, it should be. I know that I learned a few things. I was a Directv customer for several years up to 2007, when I bought my first hi def TV and Directv would not upgrade me without charging fees. Dish did it for free. Now the shoe is on the other foot and Directv has the system I want, while Dish is promising something new that I am not willing to test.
I look forward to the days in satellite TV when keeping a customer becomes more valuable than getting a new one. The current business model must be successful, though, or it wouldn't be this way.
I do a qtrly report and score power with Equifax.
Either it's gonna be good, mediocre, or lousy. That 3 digit number carries a lot of weight with people offering a service.
Last edited by a moderator:
Exactly. Even in a typical house with two kids. If they decided to watch TV in their rooms. Boom. You have one tuner left. Then PTAT kicks in. Now you have no tuners left to record anything else...and tough luck if the master bedroom wants to watch the news for some breaking news event.
Just a huge failure in dishnetworks planning on the system. The joeys should have at least been given their own tuners.
Last year when I was preparing to switch from Dish to Directv, I stopped to talk with the guy hawking Directv at Sam's Club. The deal he was offering for a Whole House System was going to run me close to $200 for installation, with a deposit. He told me that virtually nobody got the free installation that was advertised, unless your credit was absolutely spotless. I didn't bite. I'm not going to go into why my credit score is what it is, but it isn't spotless. Not bad, but not spotless. Going directly through Directv I had my installation done for free, no deposit. Whatever they are looking for, it can't be that stringent.
I can't say that I got 'free' installation... I had to pay $19.99, but at least for me there's no deposit either. I was happy with that, I expected at least one $99 charge for the dvr so I am not complaining. Dish called me about their hopper/joey setup, I was adamant about going with Directv until they mentioned the 2gb capacity on the hopper. Dish wanted to call again tomorrow, I suppose with some sort of counter offer, when I told them they were higher per month than Directv. I agreed to talk to them again, but I've already invested too much time in this fiasco already. It would be tempting to play the cheap satellite tv game and switch off providers every 2 years, but if each switch went like mine did over the last week, it wouldn't be worth the trouble.
Installation did not proceed as planned. The installer arrived and shot down my roof mounting plan... said that mounting on a metal roof was against company policy. That knowledge would have been handy when I told the salesperson that I wanted a roof mount. After we walked the surrounding area and chose a spot for mounting on a pole, he could only produce one about 3' long. This was the last thing I wanted, if I had to settle for a pole mount, I wanted it at least out of head-banging reach. He looked at an old 4x4" landscape timber clothesline post as an option, but I'm sure that my wife didn't want to give up her well-established trumpet vine that had taken it over. So, he left the ground pole up to me, gave me the hardware needed to bolt up the dish and proceeded home.
I discovered that he was right, a 2" OD metal pole would not be easy to find. I bought 2" EMT conduit, but even that slightly larger than 2" OD was too much. I was ready to get muffler pipe at $4 a foot and sand mix concrete for the center, after concreting it in the ground.
Rethought the whole problem. Not only was I settling with putting the dish where I didn't want it, I was going well out of my way to get it there. Made a couple of phone calls and found the solution:
The Dish installer put it on the edge of my deck roof... it is mounted on an overhang so that if for some reason it would start leaking, it won't even affect the deck below. I reinforced the base underneath the steel sheet metal between the rafters, so stability shouldn't be a problem.
I sure wish I could have went back to Directv. I had set up the AAA discount and referral for my 79 year old mother, and couldn't equivalent discounts with Dish. But for my family's viewing, Dish suited us better, even after blocking all of the shopping/bible thumping/special interest channels. I will never take advantage of the sports packages of Directv. I was firm on not spending the extra $99 for the HR34, and didn't like the option of settling with whatever HR23 or lower, reconditioned receiver was on the installer's truck. The hopper/two joey setup is a little flakey, but hasn't given us any issues so far, the tuner limitation compared to the HR34 will not be a problem with us. Without using primetime anytime, the 2TB hard drive was 25% full after 5 days, so the smaller HR receiver drives would have been a disappointment. And, I would give a word of advice to installers out there, to blindly follow company policy and refuse a metal roof mount, regardless of the individual's situation and needs, is short sighted.
I discovered that he was right, a 2" OD metal pole would not be easy to find. I bought 2" EMT conduit, but even that slightly larger than 2" OD was too much. I was ready to get muffler pipe at $4 a foot and sand mix concrete for the center, after concreting it in the ground.
Rethought the whole problem. Not only was I settling with putting the dish where I didn't want it, I was going well out of my way to get it there. Made a couple of phone calls and found the solution:
The Dish installer put it on the edge of my deck roof... it is mounted on an overhang so that if for some reason it would start leaking, it won't even affect the deck below. I reinforced the base underneath the steel sheet metal between the rafters, so stability shouldn't be a problem.
I sure wish I could have went back to Directv. I had set up the AAA discount and referral for my 79 year old mother, and couldn't equivalent discounts with Dish. But for my family's viewing, Dish suited us better, even after blocking all of the shopping/bible thumping/special interest channels. I will never take advantage of the sports packages of Directv. I was firm on not spending the extra $99 for the HR34, and didn't like the option of settling with whatever HR23 or lower, reconditioned receiver was on the installer's truck. The hopper/two joey setup is a little flakey, but hasn't given us any issues so far, the tuner limitation compared to the HR34 will not be a problem with us. Without using primetime anytime, the 2TB hard drive was 25% full after 5 days, so the smaller HR receiver drives would have been a disappointment. And, I would give a word of advice to installers out there, to blindly follow company policy and refuse a metal roof mount, regardless of the individual's situation and needs, is short sighted.
- Status
