DirecTV Charge You To Fix Their Service Issues

I had a similar problem with DirecTV, which is why I’m not a customer of theirs anymore. We starting having signal fluctuation problems on our TV (I would pull up the signal meter and watch it fluctuate from 94% signal to no signal and back multiple times per minute, and each time it dropped to 0, our video and audio would, understandably, freeze up… we watched an hour show one time and only heard about five complete sentences). I’d blame a tree getting blown in and out of the signal path… except there are no trees at all in the signal path. I’d blame weather, except it would happen even on calm, sunny days with no clouds. I called DirecTV, and they wanted to send a new set-box out to me, but that would cost $70 (at the time). I asked if there were any other options, and they suggested sending out a technician, but it would cost $80 for him to show up. As we were out of contract by that point, I just canceled their service instead.

I had those symptoms; it turned out to be a rusted coaxial cable.

Come live to Portugal! maybe someone will steal your house ( the power company will certainly ) , but the cable service is OK!

Keep up the good work in ubuntu!

Kudos to Jono for calling out the silly practice of consumers being charged a fee to fix the service they are already paying a monthly fee on.

Since I dont watch TV, cable internet works well for me. I get up to 20mbps for $29 a month. Every year I have to go through the pain of arguing and threatening to cut off my service completely. The key to this is actually not caring if your internet gets cut off Because they can hear it in your voice. If i truly am ready to walk away, then nothing is stopping me and then thats when they give me an awesome deal.

“I was then informed me that we would need to pay $49 to have an engineer come out to resolve the service issue.” …and by “engineer”, I assume you mean underpaid, cable monkey with a three day training course under his belt, a bad attitude and a penchant for arriving late to scheduled appointments.

You’re paying a service fee for the content delivered. Do you expect British Gas to repair the boiler on your premises FOC? They will not. Do you expect npower to fix a broken electricity socket in your house? They won’t touch it with a bargepole.  If you ask BT to come out and deal with a phone/broadband fault, and it turns out to be the CPE (phone, router, etc), you’ll be charged £130.

Yes, in the UK there is legislation for consumer protection, e.g. Sale of Goods Act, but DirecTV’s Protection Plan is no different to Sky Protect, British Gas HomeCare, et al.

Just out of interest, did you pay an installation fee for DirecTV?

Most utility companies will at the very least take responsibility for everything up to the demarcation point.  For DirectTV, that should include the dish itself.  Furthermore, if you are renting equipment from a utility, they are always (in my experience) responsible for ensuring that it is functioning properly, and fix or replace it if it isn’t.  Again, for DirectTV, the dish and the DVR/STP should be included. 

I have BrightHouse (Time Warner) for cable, and I’ve had multiple problems with their signal and their DVRs, but I have never had to pay for them to come out and check it, fix it, or replace things.

Been with Costco for years. Is this something that Costco Concierge Service can handle?

If you’ve ever had a water leak in the pipes leading to your house, drop your cell phone on contract, have an issue with the wiring(electrical or phone) you would know that, “when a subscribe to a service, be it cable, electric, gas, water, or anything else, I don’t expect to have to take out a protection plan when the provider fails to provide that service to me”, doesn’t really hold.  In each of these cases, it is up to you to pay for the fix.

 You own the water pipes. You own the wiring. You even own the cellphone. Jono doesn’t own the box or the DirecTV cabling. If he cancelled his service, they’d want them back.

May I suggest s/plan/racket/ instead?

Don’t even get me started about how bad DirtTV is.  (I misspelled on purpose).   I do you feel your pain.  As bad as my cable company Comcast and traditional phone company Versizon is – these two are saints compared to DirtTV.  Best of luck getting rid of the Dirt.

Just an FYI.  I think you can sign up for the service plan NOW.  Just wait 24 hours to schedule the service call.  

Also, I don’t think a satellite dish alignment issue will cause only sound to go out. Normally the picture goes at the same time. It should not affect recorded shows at all. I’m guessing you have a hardware issue with your box. 

No, but it’s his house that he could’ve done anything to, which is their problem. It worked and was properly aligned when they left. Alignment is most likely the wind, but let’s say he reroofed or rewired his coax. DirecTV doesn’t know.

I’m not saying I like it, but I know why it’s that way.

 I didn’t think DirecTV was a rental. I think you pay a service fee for getting the DVR to work, but I think you keep the DVR and dish when you close your account.

 I didn’t think DirecTV was a rental. I think you pay a service fee for getting the DVR to work, but I think you keep the DVR and dish when you close your account.

Dude.. ditch DirecTV, and just go OTA + roku + netflix.  I did that and I live in bliss.

Actually the only thing directv retains ownership of is the boxes you lease. When they’re done installing the new dish and cabling all of that stuff is given to you. Its also for that reason that if you cancel their service you can’t call them and say come take this dish and cable that you installed here out of my house, because that whole system is given to you at the signing of your contract for free and they’re not going to guarantee it forever.

Are you mad? All cable providers in PT are useless. Last month they even tried to charge me one of their — free – promotional VoD films.

Ditch them. Tell them to go get their equipment tomorrow or you toss it on the ground. They’ll act in your favor.

i dont think soo direct tv is on rental bases…!

We purchased two new TVs and I needed help with the hook-ups. I finallyh returned the first one. On the second purchase, three phone calls later, after being told by two “service” persons that I needed to upgrade to HDTV, I finally got a guy who knew where the red, yellow, white etc. cable connections belong. How hard was that, what great knowledge did it require by someone who is supposed to be knowledgeable? Bottom line, is that it does work, without the upgrade and the first one I bought would probably have worked alo if the cable had been plugged in properly.  I am switching to DISH next time.

I am in agrrement with you guys. The problem you are describing is happening to me today (5th of July). What happened to the “customer service” that Direct had? Not to mention the fact that you have to agree with a new 2 year contract. I checked with the local cable company to see if I could possibly change, but they are higher and I cannot afford it. I don’t know what else to do but stay with them. You can bet that I will be changing after the end of the contract.

I know this is old, but still needs to be addressed.  Like it or not, you pay monthly for PROGRAMMING, not service.  Service costs extra (as noted by the protection plan cost).  If you choose NOT to pay for service, don’t expect it.  Keep in mind that you can sign up for that service plan anytime…

I am a retailer Dish and Directv both.  We unapologetically charge  for service, but make sure our customers understand why upfront…I think the main issue here was it being a Costco purchase – quick decisions usually end up with these results.  Next time deal local!

But it’s not our equipment. We pay for programming to be delivered using DirecTV owned equipment. How the heck is the customer responsible for fixing equipment we don’t own so you can deliver the content WE pay for. That’s just asinine. 

I am having exactly the same issue.  Our receiver stopped working and we have to wait for DirectTV to ship us a new one and then install ourselves or pay for a service call.  It’s outrageous.  We have been offered a deal by AT&T and may well take it up as it’s less expensive and offers better service.

This is bad custumer service on Direct TV period. I do not see the diference between paying for programing and recieving the service to repair Direct TV own equipment, so you can get the programing you are paying for. It’s not the custumer equipment, moreover, we pay a fee to rent it, we have to return it upon cancelation or they charge you for the equipment. I had the same problem today when I opened my bill I found the $49 service call charge for a reciever that had a malfuntion on the hardware and they had to replace it. I did not buy the service thru cosco, I did it directly to direct TV and even when I made the service call I was not informed about the charges. I will make the claim tomorrow,  and if they do not waive the fee, they will loose another customer.

DirectTV not only has service issues, they have had billing issues and also have had false advertisement campaigns such as the free 15 day view and no penalty cancelation advertisement of 2011. I am in a battle now on that. The advertisement was that you had 15 days to VIEW, but If you called in to cancel before that 15 days that there would be no penalties. However, they said, “But, your fifteen days begin right now eventhough they could not get it installed for 3-5 days. So how is it possible to view something that is not capable of working due to lack of installation. They make you sign a 2yr. contract before it is installed, thus before you are given the 15 days or actually minus the 3-5 days to get a subcontractor out 10 – 12 days, then I had at least 3 channels that showed nothing but advertisements for their advertisers and 1 for themselves. So now in battle of debt of contract against credit with charges for 2 yrs. of NO service. How can this be allowed by the FCC. Last I chkd. there are conditions to a “be able to view” advertisement.

Google DirectTV and see how much money they are paying the government and something like 42 states. Sad thing just like everything else the consumer is the only looser. Look at the auto industry bailouts, they are still recalling automobiles by the hundreds of thousands, they are still the same piles of scrap and we are paying double to the auto’s true value. After, DirectTV pays their fines and such, they will still be here ripping people off with the FCC’s tolerance for yet another fine.

I just experieced the same situation. My receiver stopped picking up my home wireless system, and now I can’t record On Demand services. They have to now send a technician. They want me to pay $49 for something I had no control over. If I did something to cause something to break, I would have more understanding; however, I am in no way responsible. I expressed my displeasure on the phone and just sent them an email. As someone who works within the service industry, this absolutely boggles my mind that they would treat customers this way. It’s a damn same, really.

Im experiencing the same issue, two of THEIR receiver boxes stopped working and I say THEIRS because I’m basically renting them and if I should cancel my contract I would have to return THEIR receivers or be charged HOWEVER, if anything should happened to THEIR receivers I! HAVE to pay them for their receivers?? it doesn’t make sense to me

I just had the same issue with DirecTV. Called in and did their diagnostics/resets, etc. 3 times over a few months. Our DVR was freezing up on live TV, we had pixelation and artifacts in recordings, and glitches in recordings that would make them incomplete. (Frustrating first-world problems like: Looking forward to the season finale of Breaking Bad or that movie you recorded to watch on your lazy Sunday afternoon? You had better be babysitting it live to make sure the DVR doesn’t botch the recording!) Their diagnostics did not show errors, but the service personnel found it to be a satellite alignment issue. I thought this would fall under a free replacement/repair of malfunctioning equipment, but our service guy informed us it would be the $49 fee, as it’s a repair to faulty installation, and that high winds can slightly move your dish. One option to avoid the $49 fee is to sign on to the $6/month protection plan, then cancel it, incurring a $10 cancellation fee. I opted for the $49 service call, as I was sure that faulty equipment was to blame–and I was sort of correct. BUT AT NO POINT was it suggested that the dish alignment could be to blame for intermittent glitches in live and recorded programming. I work in IT and am confident I could align the satellite myself…there is even a tutorial on DirecTV’s website. We were instructed to take out the coax connecter and touch it to something to discharge built up static…what?! That’s when I stopped their “troubleshooting” short; “So you’re suggesting that we ‘discharge the static from the line’ periodically to remedy this problem?”…I scheduled the service call in frustration at that point. We pay over $150/month for our package and our LEASED receiver. Their troubleshooting only extends to the receiver, I guess, and the equipment that they installed needed adjustment…OK, then tell us that we need to maintain that equipment and HOW (could I get a manual up in here?).

Agree fully. I’m about to have Direct TV satellite installed, and for these reasons, and many others I’ve heard, plus having the holly crap out of me by reading their contact, I’m cancelling the Service.

In July, I had 771 error that I couldn’t fix, despite following all their directions. They scheduled a person to come out and at the time the guy told me there would be a charge. I made the same argument you did, about this being their equipment, blah blah blah, and he said since I was a “loyal” customer they would waive the service fee. Well, next month when I got my bill, guess what? There was that fee. It took me three months to get rid of it…and I had everyone’s names and employee numbers. If I didn’t live so far out in the sticks, I would for sure switch…but there just ain’t nobody else!!! Good luck.

I have had the same issue with DirecTV. I had error 771 and called to get someone out to fix it. They told me it would be $49 or a $5 charge/month in order to receive the protection plan. After going around in circles I finally asked to be transfered to the “cancelation department” to see what they could do. This is your best option when dealing with DirecTV because it seems these people can make the most happen. I was told someone would come out free of charge to fix my service, after I told them I wanted it caceled. The young lady on the phone informed me that since I was in a contract it would cost $250 to cancel my service, to which I explained I DIDN’T HAVE SERVICE so I would not be paying that fee. So I just got my bill (which is auto-payed from an account) and low and behold there is a $49 fee for a technician. I called to have this reimburssed to my card but they informed me that unless it is over $100 they can’t process a “special refund waiver.” This is not right! Basic business says that in order to make a profit, a company must charge someone a price higher than the good is worth in order to make money. So by them giving me a $49 credit, all they are doing is giving me $49 worth of service, which is likely (I have not done the math yet) a lot less than the $49 dollars I paid originally. Simply put, $49 dollars is not the same as a $49 credit. Yet this is how they resolved an issue that should have never happened in the first place.

I have a feeling I’ll be seeing direct tv in court.

I had a similar issue with directv. My second receiver went out (it is rented equipment and it no longer worked). When I called directv, they told me I had to pay to have it replaced (It is rented equipment!). I just returned the box to them and told them to cancel that service.

I just got off the phone with Direct Tv and they wanted to send a service tech out for the same $49 to tell me that my receiver was shot I would need a new one.(which I would have to pay for). I told them to just turn off this one and I went online and ordered another basic box for my son’s bedroom that cost me $96 that I was going to have to pay for anyway. Every time their equipment fails they try to milk you for as much as they can get. And to add insult to injury; every time you pay to replace THEIR broken equipment, they restart the clock on your 24 month term of service.

I would recommend staying far away from Directv, they are great when hooking you up, but when it comes to customer service, they are a nightmare. I have been with them for 14 years and have been treated like crap, and sadly, they are ranked #1, what does that say about the others? I am seriously considering dropping directv and going straight to streaming!!

That’s why my sales person told me about the protection plan. For 7.99 a month that covers dish allignmnent and service calls.

I came across this blog when I Googled my issue with Directv. Trying to get the word out about my experience. I ordered a movie via text for the first time. It wouldn’t play so I called customer service (as instructed on the screen). The ever-so-helpful automated system informed me that I could continue to be helped via automation for a small fee of $1,50 or I could speak to a customer service rep for a $5 fee. Un-freakin-believeable. The good news is I got a text assuring me that my account had been charged $4.99 for the movie. Because of the Holiday weekend I’ll wait until Monday to call them and try to speak to a higher up customer relations person. God knows how much that will cost me.

BTW – I also have the no sound issue. I’ve just gotten accustomed to turning DVR off and on until the sound works.

after 2 years of service and paying the $6/month protection plan, we decided that we didn’t need it. We cancelled yesterday and today we have no sound in all direct tv channels. what a coincidence we are defenetly cancelling the service.

Not surprised that you didn’t read the contract or expected a Costco sales rep to spell it out for you in easy-to-understand language – perhaps a flowchart created using crayons. After all, you start off by referring to a service delived via satellite as “cable”.

I am a directv technician and must tell you that the sec the dish is installed you own it that and any cabling or switches that were installed so if that fails it will cost you for us to go out there and fix it, but If the box fails they are leased and directv will send you one in the mail to replace faulty unit. Your prob did sound like the box.

however, it does take a lot more service calls to fix one issue.

Again having problems with direct tv. I probably should have learned during our last two year stent that working with direct always cost when it look or even sounds like it could a problem of theirs. Now tuner 1 103 deg even has a big Red “X” . I really find it very disgusting that again I have to contact direct tv. I know nothing has changed or ever will. Eleven months left on my current contract. Good-by Direct tv.

At least my nine “on air” always works. If more families were to say good by to Direct tv it could be they my become customer friendly!

Bob In Michigan

and the truth is the programming isn’t covered either. Like when Viacom removed their programming from DirecTV and those subscribers were out of luck. The contract also specifies that they can change programming any time.

Neuro is right, and that is exactly why you should not go with DirecTV and why many people will not.

I know it’s an old post thread but check your local service providers. The good news is that many are offering to pay your cancellation fee if you come back. Not ideal but at least it helps you break loose. I tried to post my similar issue on the Direct TV facebook page but it was immediately pulled down. I ended up posting a few times in the threads underneath the Directv posts in the hope that someone would respond and it was ignored.

THEY ABSOLUTELY SUCK FOR MAKING YOU PAY TO FIX THEIR EQUIPMENT!! I WILL NOT RENEW MY CONTRACT!!!

My husband & I just, I mean just had the EXACT SAME problem with Direct TV. But we will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. It’s just another “GOTCHA”. And as soon as our contract is up in Nov, we will seek another service provider.

the difference is i own the pipe providing water to my house and the wiring on my property for the phone, I do not own the direct tv reciever. Do you pay for the new roof that is needed on the house that you rent?????????? thought not

We’ve had DirecTV for 8+ years and were talked into their service plan. My first gripe is that we were lied to about everything that is covered. It does not cover the moving of your dish. The original technician who installed our system took the easy route and put the dish low on our roof, just above the (young) tree line. Also, when we had hail damage and needed to have a new roof put on, this again is not considered to be part of their coverage in their service plan.

So, we feel as if we have not been getting our monies worth out of our $5.99 a month payment, so less than a month ago, we dropped this plan. Coincidentally, our HD receiver stopped receiving a signal. We have 2 TV’s running off of one dish. The non-HD receiver reports 94 – 100% signal strength, the HD receiver, 0. I call customer service and they walk me through the same steps to reset the receiver that I had done twice before trying to get my signal back. After all of this they tell me that it’s an installation issue and that I need to have a technician come out and service my system.

Sounds too much like a scam to me.

I’m going to call my internet provider to see about upgrading my internet speed so I can start taking advantage of the internet streaming options so I can drop DirecTV.

you obviously must like something about them if you have stayed 14 years? really?? come on guys don’t blame them for your mistakes, we all carry car insurance don’t we? leased or owned anything that happens YOU pay for