Directv/Viacom dispute

[Lv-Bills]

LMAO. Just called AGAIN. This was my second call. So, I just added two receivers to my man cave about a week ago and got Sunday Ticket thrown in. I really could care less about the Viacom channels (although my 2 1/2 year old watches some of their shows, but I have enough DVR'ed that it doesn't matter about the loss)that it gave me another reason to gripe and get even more money.

 

So I called today. Complained that the reason we got the two extra receivers was largely so that my daughter and wife could watch NICK and CMT and that the dispute happened a few days after I renewed for two years. Blah blah blah. First rep offered me $5 off for three months. No way. Finally transferred me to the disconnect people.

 

New rep goes round and round with me about how important of a deal I already got by my fee waive for Sunday Ticket Max. Especially since I was getting the Redzone channel and player tracker. I promptly told her that those are two garabge features that my open laptop can do better than either of those two features they are now "giving me". Also told her that no one signs up for DTV because of the Redzone channel. They sign up because they have a monopoly on the games.....not the frills no one asked for in the first place. Also told her I'm a Bills season ticket holder and only needed DTV for 7 Bills games, which makes it harder to pony up all of that money for those few games.

 

20 minutes later, I just got another $30 credit for 12 months on top of Free Sunday Ticket. That's really $360 plus $299 for a $659 savings, although I would never pay them $300 for Sunday Ticket.

 

I actually told her I hate calling all of the time, but to all of you out there, it really is worth it. That's some serious cash savings that you don't have to just throw away. I honestly am lucky enough to be able to afford DTV's stuff, but I'd rather have the money in my daughter's college fund account than theirs. I'm sure they are still making hand over foot, and I am paying full price for the NHL package and half price on the MLB plan.

 

Good Luck to all. Hopefully, these last two posts in this thread help some of you. I really like DTV. And it takes a while, but they always do seem to come through with discounts.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

So is that basically what you need ot threaten them with disconnection? I'm still under my initial contract, so don't have that card to play. Well not without paying a few hundred in cancellation fees and they know it.

[Lv-Bills]

So is that basically what you need ot threaten them with disconnection? I'm still under my initial contract, so don't have that card to play. Well not without paying a few hundred in cancellation fees and they know it.

Ed - You do have that card to play. When I got my two new receivers for free last week, I had to agree to sign a new two year agreement. That means that I would actually owe $480 if I dropped their service.

 

Just tell them FIOS will offer you a Visa card to cover most of that disconnection fee (which they actually will), and that you aren't happy because everyone else is getting great deals.

 

You just have to get by the first set of reps and to the disconnect customer service reps OR customer retention. If after the phone call prompts you just say cancel service, or cancel sunday ticket, or cancel anything, you'll go to the front of the customer service line on the phones and get a rep right away. If you then get by them, you'll get put on hold forever, play the game and wait them out. Trust us, it works.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Lv-Bills

[jimmy10]

Yeah, it certainly helps if your contract has lapsed. Mine had. It's generally good practice in a negotiation not to threaten to do something unless you can actually follow through with it.

[Wagon Circler]

I got free Sunday ticket last year and a reduced movie package, because I can't get HD- not enough open sky.

Called for the same deal this year and was told that since I got it free last year, I couldn't get it again this year.

I will probably try again one more time.

[Taro T]

Only got $20 credit for 12 months and STM for $148, but that was their 1st offer and I didn't feel like spending another 30 minutes on the phone dickering to try to get the Ticket for free.

 

Thanks to all for the reminder to make the call. Net result is I'll average ~$7.50/mo in savings over the year and have the ticket for free.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Last time I called I did speak with Customer retention, she looked at different things but told me there was nothing she could do as I was already getting all these credits. In fact while talking to her I started quoting posts from threads here on the page. I mentioned, "here's one 'so and so got Sunday Ticket for free, got $10 credit for 20 months" Right away her response was, yes he got credits and since you are already getting credits she couldn't give me more. I'll probably try again, but so far haven't had any luck even whe ntalking with customer retention. I can't wait for May 2014, then I can tell them I want it free or I'm gone and I'm making up for getting screwed the past two years! Though watch in April 2014, the NFL will announce Sunday Ticket is no longer on DTV!

 

 

Ed - You do have that card to play. When I got my two new receivers for free last week, I had to agree to sign a new two year agreement. That means that I would actually owe $480 if I dropped their service.

 

Just tell them FIOS will offer you a Visa card to cover most of that disconnection fee (which they actually will), and that you aren't happy because everyone else is getting great deals.

 

You just have to get by the first set of reps and to the disconnect customer service reps OR customer retention. If after the phone call prompts you just say cancel service, or cancel sunday ticket, or cancel anything, you'll go to the front of the customer service line on the phones and get a rep right away. If you then get by them, you'll get put on hold forever, play the game and wait them out. Trust us, it works.

[Lv-Bills]

Last time I called I did speak with Customer retention, she looked at different things but told me there was nothing she could do as I was already getting all these credits. In fact while talking to her I started quoting posts from threads here on the page. I mentioned, "here's one 'so and so got Sunday Ticket for free, got $10 credit for 20 months" Right away her response was, yes he got credits and since you are already getting credits she couldn't give me more. I'll probably try again, but so far haven't had any luck even whe ntalking with customer retention. I can't wait for May 2014, then I can tell them I want it free or I'm gone and I'm making up for getting screwed the past two years! Though watch in April 2014, the NFL will announce Sunday Ticket is no longer on DTV!

[plenzmd1]

Just made the call..which I dread..ask right away for retention.

 

first offer from them was $5 credit for three months..said lets cut to the chase. This is what others recieved,, I am a 17 year customer and offended they did not offer what others have received.... next offer ..free ticket and max, $10 credit for 12 months, new 1 year commitment . Sounded good, I had only been on phone for 10 minutes , so I took it.

Edited July 17, 2012 by plenzmd1

[rocwocka]

A 10 year customer + 46 min phone call = free NFL package ($300 value), a free HD DVR upgrade and a free wireless on-demand set-up for my bedroom... not bad. Thanks for letting me in on the deal guys!!!

[zow2]

Finally made the annual call today. Just went straight to retention and told her i was a loyal, 11 year subscriber, and always in good standing. Said I wanted a price in line with what other loyal customers are getting. I could have pressed the issue more but accepted the $149 total (24.99 x 6 months) for Sunday ticket including the MAX upgrade. I didn't need a Free package...happy to pay $149 for all the offerings. Maybe if i am down on my luck financially one day, I'll play up the "I want it Free" card.

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

Finally made the annual call today. Just went straight to retention and told her i was a loyal, 11 year subscriber, and always in good standing. Said I wanted a price in line with what other loyal customers are getting. I could have pressed the issue more but accepted the $149 total (24.99 x 6 months) for Sunday ticket including the MAX upgrade. I didn't need a Free package...happy to pay $149 for all the offerings. Maybe if i am down on my luck financially one day, I'll play up the "I want it Free" card.

I am with you zow2 I just want the 150$ for ST max deal I am not going to leave after being with D* for 17 years now sicne Id rather enjoy watching the Bills in comfort of my living room than in a sports bar.

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

Just called and to my surprise was immediately transferred to promotions department, i was offered ST for free and added Max in for 4 payments of $25 so ended up with ST Max for 100$ I am a very happy camper, oh and I had to agree to 1 year.

[sweatpantsjoe]

Made my phone call. I'm a brand new customer so I'm only paying 34.99 a month for Choice Extra package plus 3 free months of premium movie channels and free Sunday Ticket so there wasn't much I could get, but I ended up getting $10 more a month off my bill for the next 3 months. I'm happy with that.

[cmjoyce113]

Update ----

 

I called in this morning because we are 1 week into not having channels. I just asked for customer retention. When the lady answered I said look I am not trying to threaten to cancel, I am not in the mood to play that game this morning. I would like the on demand set up on 2 of my TV's and I don't want to pay for it. She said ok, gave me 2 of them ($120 value). I also said can you discount the College Football pack and I wanted to sign up for HBO. For College Football it works out to me paying $9.99 the 4th month. She credited me $29.99 for 3 months and $20 the 4th month. As for HBO she gave me a few different cost options and then just told me she would give me all of the movie channels and sports package free for 2 months and it would shut off after 2 months so I don't get billed.

 

Moral of the story: it might be worth a second call with the 2nd call just being honest, nice and asking for more. Just thought I'd help.

[zow2]

Update ----

 

I called in this morning because we are 1 week into not having channels. I just asked for customer retention. When the lady answered I said look I am not trying to threaten to cancel, I am not in the mood to play that game this morning. I would like the on demand set up on 2 of my TV's and I don't want to pay for it. She said ok, gave me 2 of them ($120 value). I also said can you discount the College Football pack and I wanted to sign up for HBO. For College Football it works out to me paying $9.99 the 4th month. She credited me $29.99 for 3 months and $20 the 4th month. As for HBO she gave me a few different cost options and then just told me she would give me all of the movie channels and sports package free for 2 months and it would shut off after 2 months so I don't get billed.

 

Moral of the story: it might be worth a second call with the 2nd call just being honest, nice and asking for more. Just thought I'd help.

 

Hmmm.. I'm paying full price for the college football so i may have to call back. Thanks.

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Hope everyone got their free stuff already - an agreement has been reached:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/directv-customers-sponge-bob-back-120230156.html

[All_Pro_Bills]

My dish got cooked by lightning in an nasty thunderstorm that rolled through in the morning on 6/25 along with one of my HD receivers that I had for only a month. The storm also blew out the HDMI connections on my TV and the phone connected to the HD box. So I am using S-Video until I get that fixed and needed a new phone too. A tech came out and fixed the dish and ordered me another HD box for the one that got blown up.

 

The replacement HD box (an R24-200) overheated and lasted 3 hours, then they sent me another one via fedex, an R24-100. Set up that one and it also got really hot, like burning your hand hot if you touched the bottom of the receiver.

 

So I turned that box off before it fried and I called and a tech came out the next day. After some discussion and checking he agreed to replace the 3rd box with a new one (the other two replacements were refurbished). He told me the Directv people were getting pissed because it was my fourth box in a month. I felt that it was their problem not mine because the replacement boxes they were sending were garbage. I checked out all my electrical outlets and they checked out good so it wasn't a power problem from the storm.

 

Long story short, the new one worked fine but I called to voice my complaints and got a month of free service for all the problems.

 

Anybody else had problems with R24-100 or R24-200 refurbished boxes overheating? The new R24-500 works fine..

Edited July 20, 2012 by All_Pro_Bills

[eball]

My dish got cooked by lightning in an nasty thunderstorm that rolled through in the morning on 6/25 along with one of my HD receivers that I had for only a month. The storm also blew out the HDMI connections on my TV and the phone connected to the HD box. So I am using S-Video until I get that fixed and needed a new phone too. A tech came out and fixed the dish and ordered me another HD box for the one that got blown up.

 

The replacement HD box (an R24-200) overheated and lasted 3 hours, then they sent me another one via fedex, an R24-100. Set up that one and it also got really hot, like burning your hand hot if you touched the bottom of the receiver.

 

So I turned that box off before it fried and I called and a tech came out the next day. After some discussion and checking he agreed to replace the 3rd box with a new one (the other two replacements were refurbished). He told me the Directv people were getting pissed because it was my fourth box in a month. I felt that it was their problem not mine because the replacement boxes they were sending were garbage. I checked out all my electrical outlets and they checked out good so it wasn't a power problem from the storm.

 

Long story short, the new one worked fine but I called to voice my complaints and got a month of free service for all the problems.

 

Anybody else had problems with R24-100 or R24-200 refurbished boxes overheating? The new R24-500 works fine..

Minor point, but you're missing an "H" in those model numbers (i.e., HR24-500, etc.).

 

I have two HR24-500s and they work great. I've been with DTV for a long time, and I've never had a box go out on me (knock on wood). The new HR34 is phenomenal -- five tuners and PIP.

 

Here's a really good forum if you want to keep up with what's happening with their equipment: DBSTalk

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

Minor point, but you're missing an "H" in those model numbers (i.e., HR24-500, etc.).

 

I have two HR24-500s and they work great. I've been with DTV for a long time, and I've never had a box go out on me (knock on wood). The new HR34 is phenomenal -- five tuners and PIP.

 

Here's a really good forum if you want to keep up with what's happening with their equipment: DBSTalk

Wish I could get my hands on hr34 would love pip with four dvrs in the house don't need more tuners