Will I be charged for defective receiver?

[videojanitor]

Here's an interesting situation:

I had a leased, standard receiver go dead, so I called for a replacement. I made it quite clear to them that it was DEAD. The CSR told me that since I don't have the Protection Plan, it was going to cost me $59 plus $20 for shipping. I balked at that, and she gave me a $40 credit for being a "long-time" customer -- which got me down to $30. She also told me this would start a new 12-month commitment. What?? For a replacement? Yes, she said. OK, that doesn't sound right, but whatever.

Long story short, it turns out the order was entered as an "upgrade" and not a replacement for defective equipment. I have called and emailed several times, but they won't budge on this, as they have no record any defective equipment on my account. How substituting one standard receiver for another qualifies an upgrade is lost on me, but again, OK ...

Now I am waiting for the recovery kit for the defective receiver. Assuming that arrives at some point, am I going to get dinged when they get this back and find out it is dead?? If it not flagged as defective, I assume they will want a working piece of equipment. Just wondering if this has happened to anybody else ... and what was the end result.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

How substituting one standard receiver for another qualifies an upgrade is lost on me, but again, OK ...

You upgraded from a non-working standard receiver to a working one.

You might not have been hit with the re-up commitment if you hadn't have taken the $40 discount. Many of their discount deals come with a commitment.

 

[raoul5788]

Here's an interesting situation:

I had a leased, standard receiver go dead, so I called for a replacement. I made it quite clear to them that it was DEAD. The CSR told me that since I don't have the Protection Plan, it was going to cost me $59 plus $20 for shipping. I balked at that, and she gave me a $40 credit for being a "long-time" customer -- which got me down to $30. She also told me this would start a new 12-month commitment. What?? For a replacement? Yes, she said. OK, that doesn't sound right, but whatever.

Long story short, it turns out the order was entered as an "upgrade" and not a replacement for defective equipment. I have called and emailed several times, but they won't budge on this, as they have no record any defective equipment on my account. How substituting one standard receiver for another qualifies an upgrade is lost on me, but again, OK ...

Now I am waiting for the recovery kit for the defective receiver. Assuming that arrives at some point, am I going to get dinged when they get this back and find out it is dead?? If it not flagged as defective, I assume they will want a working piece of equipment. Just wondering if this has happened to anybody else ... and what was the end result.

Try contacting Stonecold by pm, a poster on Satelliteguys. He is a csr, and very good at fixing problems. Failing that, you should send an email to eafilipiak@directv.com That is for Ellen Filipiak, a vp of customer relations.

 

[videojanitor]

You upgraded from a non-working standard receiver to a working one.

You might not have been hit with the re-up commitment if you hadn't have taken the $40 discount. Many of their discount deals come with a commitment.

HA! That's exactly what I was thinking ... in a sense, it WAS an upgrade! The commitment thing really doesn't bother me because I am only about 4 months into a 2-year commitment as it is, and I don't think they combine -- they run concurrently -- so I don't think I've really been "extended." I don't even care about the extra ten bucks -- just don't want to be hit with another fee later because they goofed up.

 

[stonecold]

You upgraded from a non-working standard receiver to a working one.

You might not have been hit with the re-up commitment if you hadn't have taken the $40 discount. Many of their discount deals come with a commitment.

No all reciever activation except for protection plan or lease reciver swaps, have a contract extention tied to them. It has no baring on the 40 dollars

The 40 dollars with credit limit the computer tells us we can credit the customer to make happy purposes some are 0 some are 50 somre even a little more.

 

[videojanitor]

Try contacting Stonecold by pm, a poster on Satelliteguys. He is a csr, and very good at fixing problems.

Thanks. I have read many of his posts and thought about that, but didn't want to bother him unless there was a consensus that I could be hosed even further if I don't get this corrected.

 

[FED-UP-INSTALLER]

The only thing that destroys electronics is HEAT if the receiver worked more than 6 consecutive hours, Something else caused it to fail. Be it your fault or an "act of God" your on the hook for that receiver. The equiptment and it's ability to function is only warrented for 90 days, after that it's "Pay Up Sucka!" time - Sorry "made in China

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I hope the D* CSRs are more trustworthy than the E* CSRs. I once received an offer for a DVR upgrade from one of the higher up CIO CSRs from E*. I'd been with them for 9 years at a high tier sub level.

During the course of the upgrade, I said that I had just paid $99 for a non-DVR HD receiver 3 months earlier and I didn't like losing that money. The CSR put me on hold, came back and said that I would receive a $99 credit on my bill. I then asked her to repeat the entire offer to me, she included the $99 credit in the list of goodies. Then I repeated the entire list back to her, for confirmation, and she said that was correct. I wrote down her name.

I waited two billing cycles, got everything on the list except for the $99 credit. I then contacted E* to see when I would get the credit and was told that I would not. I wrote to the CIO office, giving them all of the details, including the CSR's name and that the offer was made to me 3 times - includiing her confirmation when I repeated it to her.

No dice. She denied it. I think she did something she wasn't authorized to do and then simply lied her way out of it, saying that I mistook what she said. I would have conceded that perhaps I had, if she had only said it once.

In the end, I couldn't believe that E* went to the wall for her side of the story. Over all of those years with E*, I had paid them over $12,000 for equipment & subscriptions. But there was no way in hell they were going to give me that $99.

 

[videojanitor]

The only thing that destroys electronics is HEAT if the receiver worked more than 6 consecutive hours, Something else caused it to fail. Be it your fault or an "act of God" your on the hook for that receiver. The equiptment and it's ability to function is only warrented for 90 days, after that it's "Pay Up Sucka!" time - Sorry "made in China

Seriously? I found this on the DirecTV website:

Leasing the receiver allows us to provide the latest equipment with minimal upfront cost, affordable upgrade options, and if the receiver fails we will replace it at no charge.

 

[videojanitor]

In the end, I couldn't believe that E* went to the wall for her side of the story. Over all of those years with E*, I had paid them over $12,000 for equipment & subscriptions. But there was no way in hell they were going to give me that $99.

OUCH! I'm sure everyone has this kind of story to tell about some company or another. Sad to say, that's just the way a lot of them do business. What ever happened to "the customer is always right?"

 

[Tom Bombadil]

What ever happened to "the customer is always right?"

Wasn't just a matter of the customer being right. Customers aren't always right. But sometimes you need to do the right thing for your own business. I left E* when my commitment was up from that upgrade. That was 18 months ago. I would have paid them around another $2100-$2200 since then. And would still be a paying, upper-tier subscriber.

They've called me three times since I left, to try to get me back. I enjoyed saying no on those calls.

 

[stonecold]

Seriously? I found this on the DirecTV website:

Leasing the receiver allows us to provide the latest equipment with minimal upfront cost, affordable upgrade options, and if the receiver fails we will replace it at no charge.

If they are charging 59 dollars then it probably a mistaken agent or your account order enough that your hardware was considered Owned vs Leased.

On your bill do the reciever fees show up as Additional Recvier or Leased Receiver?

 

[webdog]

In the end, I couldn't believe that E* went to the wall for her side of the story. Over all of those years with E*, I had paid them over $12,000 for equipment & subscriptions. But there was no way in hell they were going to give me that $99.

My sister was a customer of E* and had been for several years. She had two standard receivers and was looking to add on a third receiver for her son. I forgot the price, but I think they said it would be around $100 for a standard receiver for his room. She had called a couple of different times to E* and got the same story. I think she even mentioned to them that she was considering going to D* and they still didn't budge an inch for her.

She decided to go with D* instead and they gave her all 3 standard receivers, the dish, install etc. as they would for any new customer. About a week later E* calls her and asks her why she cancelled. She explained the story above, that she had called a couple of times and E* wouldn't budge on the price, so she went with D*. The person from E* says, "we could have given you the 3rd receiver you wanted." Oh well, too late too soon.

 

[stonecold]

Yeah always the sometimes the same thing happens with D* get a rention agent on a bad day and something as simple as a standard reciver could of saved the customer.

But both E* and D* rention departments are better then cables .... Comcast is like ok when do you want to cancel

 

[videojanitor]

If they are charging 59 dollars then it probably a mistaken agent or your account order enough that your hardware was considered Owned vs Leased.

On your bill do the reciever fees show up as Additional Recvier or Leased Receiver?

I had to check the "activity since last bill" section, and for the defective receiver that I deactivated, it says "Leased Receiver Disconnect Adj." The receiver was a D11 that I got in December 2006, so it should have been leased.

 

[stonecold]

ok which department did you speak to?

di you say i want a new reciver and got sent to our hardware department

or did you talk to tech . if you talked to tech they should of done a free replacment and only charged you 19.95 for shipping and handling.

I would call back.

 

[videojanitor]

ok which department did you speak to?

di you say i want a new reciver and got sent to our hardware department

or did you talk to tech . if you talked to tech they should of done a free replacment and only charged you 19.95 for shipping and handling.

I would call back.

Not sure what department it was. I called the main number (1-800-DIRECTV) and said "defective receiver" at the prompt -- that connected me with a human, but they did not identify themselves as being in any particular department. The person definitely understood that I was talking about a unit that was DEAD, as she had me describe the symptoms (pretty basic ... no lights, no nothing), and then proceeded to tell me that because I don't have the Protection Plan, I would have to pay full price for a replacement. You know the rest of the story from there.

But, as I said, I'm not worried about the extra $10 it cost me, or that they restarted my commitment (since I am already in a commitment period) -- just don't want to be charged for sending back something that doesn't work, if they are EXPECTING it to work.

I have already called back four times, and exchanged emails with them four times, and I didn't make any progress. So, I'm reluctant to call back again and it seems to be a waste of time. I'm not going to win this one, as they don't seem to leave open the possibility that one of their people made a mistake.

Here's the text of the last email I received:

Thanks for writing. I see you have been a loyal customer since 2000. I understand your concern regarding the receiver order. According to our records, the order was placed on 11/07/2009 as an upgrade. I see that we provided a $40.00 credit as a courtesy. I was unable to find any record that would suggest this was supposed to be a replacement receiver due to technical issues.

Since this was ordered as an upgrade, the programming agreement and charge are considered valid.

I see that a receiver was deactivated on 11/10/2009. The recovery kit will arrive shortly to retrieve this unit.

Not sure what their definition of "shortly" is, but nothing has arrived yet ...

 

[raoul5788]

The only thing that destroys electronics is HEAT if the receiver worked more than 6 consecutive hours, Something else caused it to fail. Be it your fault or an "act of God" your on the hook for that receiver. The equiptment and it's ability to function is only warrented for 90 days, after that it's "Pay Up Sucka!" time - Sorry "made in China

Please don't make posts if you don't know what you are talking about. It only makes a bad situation worse.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Please don't make posts if you don't know what you are talking about. It only makes a bad situation worse.

agreed

 

[FED-UP-INSTALLER]

UPDATE on my original response - Directv will send out a replacement receiver for free, However, If you are unsuccessful at hooking it up you may have to pay for a service call to have a technician come out and install it. If you live in a market that is switching to MPEG4 and your old "standard" receiver dies Directv might send you a HD receiver, I've also seen a H23 fail and the customer was sent a H21 without a B-band converter.
Spend the 6 bucks a month and get the "protection plan" it really is money well spent.