New Apartment likely won't recive signal, will I be charged cancellation?

[msage]

Hello there, I've recently found myself in a pickle.

I will be moving to a new apartment next week and am worried that I will not receive signal (namely because the apartment faces north and not S (SE?) where I've been told the satellite is. This issue never entered my mind while making my moving arrangements so I was rather shocked when the apartment manager brought up satellite policies while signing the lease yesterday.

The apartment manager was kind enough to call DirecTV for me while I was there to establish their policies in this type of manner. His initial angle was that the issue is out of my control and therefore I should not be charged a cancellation fee. The rep he spoke to informed him that if the installer comes out and cannot establish connection then I will not be charged a cancellation fee.

I have been scouring the internet looking for confirmation on this but have not been successful. I have looked at the DirecTV contract and can't find anything about this (I very well could have overlooked it as there is just so much mumbo jumbo in there)

If anyone could help me out here I would be most grateful. It really doesn't seem fair to punish the customer for the lack of reception opportunities; I would love to keep DirecTV but if I cannot receive a signal I really don't feel that that is my fault? It would seem logical to have at least two satellites in orbit to ensure maximum reception but then again I'm not really familiar with the laws of space

 

[jdspencer]

In order for the satellites to be geosynchronous they have to be over the equator. Thus your need to be able to see the southern sky. Where in the sky depends on your longitude.

Any chance the apartment complex would allow a dish to be installed on the roof?

 

[msage]

Unfortunately no, and there is really no view of the southern sky so I doubt a signal will be possible :/

Any knowledge of DirecTV's policy in this type of case?

 

[Davedirectv]

Are you trying to find possible ways of keeping Directv? or just getting out of paying a fee to end it?

 

[msage]

Well like I said, I would love to keep Directv because I enjoy the service but if I cannot get reception at the new place then there's no way around it. I've done a little more digging and have found a few people who have had success in having the fee waived when the installer could not establish Line of Sight but I'm still nervous about it and wish I had a definitive answer.

 

[dvrexpander]

Well like I said, I would love to keep Directv because I enjoy the service but if I cannot get reception at the new place then there's no way around it. I've done a little more digging and have found a few people who have had success in having the fee waived when the installer could not establish Line of Sight but I'm still nervous about it and wish I had a definitive answer.

dude.. I've seen DirectTV techs put a pole in a bucket of sand on someone's "little space" out side of their apartment cause they weren't allowed to mount to the building or bury a pole just for someone to get service...thus running a line inside a door or window LOL Dish techs can't do this but I heard Direct's don't care or at least in this area.

I guess if the elevation is set all you need to do is just turn the bucket right or left for pointing and that's it. Perhaps just take the dish with you and put it up on the roof or some place yourself without anybody knowing.

 

[msage]

Yea I'm holding out hope that they'll be able to do something but the dish would have to be pointed back towards the apartment in order to face south and a 3-story building is in the way; unless the angle is about 80 degrees there's no way it'll clear that building. Who knows maybe this guy will be able to work some magic but I'm concerned about how things will go if he can't.

 

[Joe Diamond]

I have seen a few of these,

Directv could say they didn't force you to move. You signed a contract and ordered the service.
They offer a mover's connection service.
Your position is you want to continue your contracted service at the new address. If Directv cannot continue to deliver that service you want out of the contract they could not fulfill.

It goes back and forth like that.
If the bucket idea doesn't work.....
Any chance of moving into a place with a LOS?

Joe

 

[stonecold]

I have seen a few of these,

Directv could say they didn't force you to move. You signed a contract and ordered the service.
They offer a mover's connection service.
Your position is you want to continue your contracted service at the new address. If Directv cannot continue to deliver that service you want out of the contract they could not fulfill.

It goes back and forth like that.
If the bucket idea doesn't work.....
Any chance of moving into a place with a LOS?

Joe

Joe, the general policy on this is if the customer did a movers order and say you get out there and you close the ticket at No LOS which is the most important part is that NO LOS be the reason the ticket is close dtv will cancel out the commitment.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Joe, the general policy on this is if the customer did a movers order and say you get out there and you close the ticket at No LOS which is the most important part is that NO LOS be the reason the ticket is close dtv will cancel out the commitment.

Ah,

Thanks; they decided to take the high road on this one. That is more than fair. I used to run into military families who just got reassigned and had no control over what happened. As the commitment concept became more of an issue the whole mover thing had been unclear.

Thanks for the update.

Joe

 

[msage]

Thanks for the input, seems like I should have a leg to stand on here.