My parents switched over from Dish to DirectTV in July and last week their locals channels went out. They've talked to CSR, techinicians, everyone trying to get it fixed and the best anyone can tell them is that their house is in a blind spot and it won't get any better until March and the best D* will do is give them a $75 credit for a snap-on antenna which does them no good. They then tried to cancel all together and were told that they would be charged $450 if they canceled at anytime before next July. Needless to say, they aren't happy. Anyone that can provide any help here, it would be greatly appreciated. What are their options here? Can anyone provide a number or email address where they can actually get in touch with someone who can get things done and would be willing to help? Thanks everyone
Need a little help, guys . . .
- Thread starter soboredskin
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A little more info would help. DMA, City where they live etc. Equipment... Recievers and switches.
I also agree with the above post = we need more info; BUT have they reset the receiver and run an initial setup again?
Some of those quotes from DirecTV sound so off base it isn't even funny; I hope you got names and/or ID numbers to call back and complain, those answers are so funny I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a fake/bait DirecTV bashing post.
Some of those quotes from DirecTV sound so off base it isn't even funny; I hope you got names and/or ID numbers to call back and complain, those answers are so funny I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a fake/bait DirecTV bashing post.
Yeah, even mainbank agents know a little technical stuff. We don't know if the locals are satellite delivered or HD OTA. $450? That's just bonkers. Local channels went out? what OSD if any? SFSS, x721, or is just the banner there without the programming? Are the locals from 101, 119, or 72.5? Test messages on the 490-497 test channels?
Forgive my ignorance on all things DirectTV but this is the information that I can provide. Their house is in Clarksville, VA, but they are in the area for Raleigh locals. The guys that they had come back out for repairs were not the same ones that originally installed the system. My mother said that they replaced all switches and pieces on the dish hoping to find the problem but no luck. The $450 figure came from the CSR who said that there would be a charge of $150 per receiver for canceling and they have 3 receivers. As far as the exact equipment that they have, I do not know. They live 20 miles away and are not home right now. I'll try to find that information out tonight.
Are they receiving all their other DirecTV programming/channels EXCEPT the locals? Are you referring to locals via DBS or OTA delivery? I mean, if just the locals are gone why change out all the hardware? It sounds like a setup issue to me.
Check the signal meter and find out what the signal level is on transponder 28 on sat 101. That is where the locals for Raleigh are located, make sure they are picking up a signal before anything else.
Yes Raleigh locals are on the round,but your in VA so your signal for transponder 28 will be very low. Your just on the wrong side of the border.
Some more information and I thank everyone for bearing with me because I am a 3rd party in all of this. The channels fade in and out during different times of the day. Every night around 6:30 the signal begins to fade out, is completely gone around 7:30 and is not right again until 9:00 at night. This does occur during the day and late night but they don't know the exact times like they do at night. They said they have exhausted every contact that they can find and they still haven't found someone to help. Does anyone have the contact information for someone higher up?
soboredskin said:
It's the location of your parents home.
You would probaly be better off trying to get Richmond locals.
I used 23927 as my LIL seach zip and you are OK for LIL so you might want to repeak the dish because you may be right on the edge as mentioned before.
I must reiterate by agreeing with Spin and charper1. You need to get signal strength readings on all transponders, especially the odd transponders and transponder 28. If your readings are not higher than 80, then you need to have the dish repeaked.
To me, it sounds like a combination of an unpeaked dish and living on the edge of a spot-beam. If the signal strengths aren't high on the normal channels (easiest by saying the odd transponders), being on the edge of a spot-beam will not help your reception during the evening hours. Transponder 28 needs to be as high as it can be.
To me, it sounds like a combination of an unpeaked dish and living on the edge of a spot-beam. If the signal strengths aren't high on the normal channels (easiest by saying the odd transponders), being on the edge of a spot-beam will not help your reception during the evening hours. Transponder 28 needs to be as high as it can be.
They've had two technicians in trying to fix it and one of those was supposed to be their lead guy so I assume that they did try to repeak it. They actually told my parents that there is no use to call them anymore, that they have done everything possible to fix it and there is nothing else they can do. My parents have complained that they would rather have the Roanoke locals instead of the Raleigh ones. Is that feasible technically? If so, I would imagine that they would have to get the required releases from the Raleigh stations. Any other legal or technical problems that they would need to be aware of if they tried to make that switch?
soboredskin said:
You are not going to get Raleigh locals because of where you are at in VA.
Roanoke or Richmond locals would be your best choice.
charper1 said:
I know where he is at. It's on the N.C./VA. Route 58 border. Transponder 28 is not strong on the VA side for the N.C. locals. That why we have most
subs depending on which side of 85 your located either have Richmond, or Roanake locals, until you hit N.C.
Charlotte County is wierd.
He needs to tell his parents to "move" their service address to the other locals because his towns zip gives them Raleigh.
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