I have been a DirecTV customer for nearly two years
and have been thrilled with the service, content and
ease of accessing my account via the internet – until
now. The reason for my dissatisfaction should become
apparent as you read the following:
On June 3, 2004 my landlord had the house re-roofed
and without my knowledge, the roofer took my dish
down, which happened to be mounted directly to the
roof. The original installation was the cause of a
leak into the living area below, thus was not
reinstalled after the repair was complete. I called
DirecTV to have someone come out to move the dish to a
different location and the customer service rep I
spoke with said that he would have a technician out to
the house sometime in the afternoon on Saturday June
5th.
On that Saturday I waited all day for the technician
to arrive. At 5:15pm I contacted customer service at
DirecTV to find out where the technician was; the
customer service representative informed me that I did
not have any work scheduled for this day, and that
someone was supposed to call me to setup an
appointment. The notes this rep was reading back to me
were completely different than what I was told two
days prior. This annoyed me greatly and I expressed
this inconvenience to him. I was offered a credit to
one of my movie channels for the inconvenience as a
peace offering. I requested that they send someone out
to my house as soon as possible to get this dish move
resolved. I was now scheduled to have someone come in
the morning of Tuesday June 8, 2004.
On Tuesday the technician showed up early and we
determined that the dish needed to be moved to the top
level of the roof. I then informed him that the
landlord has requested that the dish not be mounted
directly into the roof again, to find another spot to
install it. After about 30 minutes the technician said
that the only decent spot to mount the dish was to the
chimney. The tech said that he was 1) not prepared for
this type of installation, 2) had never done this type
of installation before, and 3) informed me that I have
to provide the mounting hardware for this procedure.
I was displeased to be told this, and confused, being
that this technician is a “professional installer”
that I had to provide mounting hardware. I reluctantly
agreed and the technician said that he would call his
home office, inform them of the situation, and request
that an experienced tech be dispatched to my home when
I have the mounting kit.
After much searching, I finally found a chimney
mounting kit and immediately called DirecTV and
scheduled to have a technician to come back out to the
house the afternoon of Saturday June 12th. On the 12th
a technician arrived and apparently was not aware that
the dish was to be mounted on the chimney.
Unfortunately, he too was inexperienced at this
mounting technique. While the tech was on the roof
preparing to mount the dish to the chimney he realized
the mounting bracket did not fit the foot of the dish
properly. So the technician comes down off the roof to
show me the problem and asks, “What should we do about
this?” I responded that he should figure out something
as this is the third time I have tried to get this
dish mounted in 7 days. Incredibly, this technician
was not prepared to troubleshoot the situation past
banging the mount against the foot of the dish.
He had no tools to modify the mount, he did not have a
replacement foot for the dish so that it would fit to
the bracket properly, nor had he any idea how to get
past this minor hurdle. Disgusted with the service I
have been receiving to this point, I told the tech
that he could leave and I would work something out in
the meantime, and would call back yet again when I
have a mounting kit that works with the dish.
After the tech had departed, I noticed that the LNB
from my dish was missing. I looked everywhere the tech
was working and could not find it. Immediately I
called DirecTV to explain the entire situation and
express my disgust with what should have been a simple
installation. The girl I spoke with said that she
would call the installation company ASAP to have the
tech return my LNB, which he did that Monday – but
without the hardware to mount it!
After some searching on the internet I located a
discussion forum on DirecTV and explained this whole
fiasco. I was contacted by a DirecTV installer in
South Carolina and he was very familiar with my
situation - and got quite a laugh out of it. He
informed me I needed a new foot for my dish after I
described the mounting kit I had purchased. He sent me
a new foot for the dish and it mounts perfectly to the
chimney mount.
Amazing - a prepared and knowledgeable DirecTV
installer. Kudos to that fine young man.
On Thursday June 17th I called DirecTV to schedule for
yet another installation appointment and the customer
service rep I spoke to was very helpful. She scheduled
a technician to come out Friday the 18th (today) in
the morning to finally mount the dish. This morning
comes and we received a call from the tech, saying
that his truck has broken down, that he will not be
coming today - nor will they send another technician
out. This, I find completely and totally unacceptable.
I have been without DirecTV service for over two
weeks, this was my FOURTH attempt to get this dish
installed and once again, the installation company has
dropped the ball. For the amount of money that I spend
monthly on DirecTV service, I should not have to put
up with these inconveniences. I have missed two days
of work and have endured entirely too much frustration
for a simple installation of a dish to a chimney. The
two technicians I have dealt with so far have did not
have the proper tools, nor the correct hardware to
install my dish. Apparently they also lacked the
training to do so. How can they, then, be referred to
as professional installers?
I personally feel that regardless of the installation,
a “professional installer” should be prepared for any
situation and/or installation presented. Further,
there should be no reason why any customer should have
to go searching or supplying hardware to get a dish
mounted. Also, since this is all in the fine print of
the contract, why doesn’t DirecTV sell these
accessories on their website? This would have saved me
a lot of time and frustration.
So. I had a technician come out to the house first
thing Saturday morning (June 19th) to install this
dish, which was, again, an inconvenience for me as I
had plans to go away for the weekend. When the tech
arrived, I noticed that he was the first technician
that came to the house two weeks prior. I asked if he
was aware that this was a chimney mount installation
and his response was, “I did not know that and I do
not even know how to do it.” (No surprise there). I
immediately stopped the discussion and told him that
he can leave and that this was the SECOND time he has
been to my house so he should have been prepared for
the installation. I am now rescheduled for Tuesday
morning, which is now pushing into the 3 week without
service window. I am dangerously close to the point of
canceling my DirecTV service and calling Dish Network.
If the installer can not get my dish installed
correctly, and in very short order, I will be calling
DirecTV to cancel my subscription.
So we opted for a chimney mounting, which required me to supply the parts. OK no problem. 
