While many people love Dish Network and others Directv, the debate I am sure will rage on for years. However, I personally have found Directv to be one of the most reliable services around. Not only that if you call and talk to the representatives, even when in a contract, you may find out about a lower rate being offered for your service. Then you can get the lower rate at times, you may even find a hidden coupon type deal. For instance my phone company because I am a Directv customer gives me a six dollar per month break on the satellite bill. All from making a simple phone call!
I am glad you had a great experience with them! We had the exact opposite and had the absolute worst possible experience with DirectTV. Customer service never wanted to deal with us, the price went up every month and they wouldn't explain it. Was supposed to be $59 after our special. It was for the first month. Then it went up to $64 then the next month it was $69 and then 2 months later it was $75. We called them at least 3 times a month to let them know there was a problem with the equipment and nobody wanted to fix it. Then finally I decided to hold off on payment for 4 days and then call to tell them we were not paying until they finally dealt with the problem (this was after over 6 six months of calling) and they told us they could not talk to us because we were 4 days late. They hung up on us!! We would have problems several times a month and it wasn't weather, our neighbor upstairs (whose dish was right next to ours) would have TV and we wouldn't. They told us it was the weather, they didn't want to replace the equipment but would send somebody out to troubleshoot for a high fee. We were fed up with them, this is just the beginning of the list of problems we had. We went to cable, no aggravation! Good luck and I don't know how you always got the newest deals because they always told us that they couldn't do anything for us.
Being a previous DirecTv customer and employee I see both your points of views. The service is better than that of other cable providers but they can be very sneaky with te prices and the bills. We were trained to word things in certain ways as to make the customer agree knowing that in 6 months when all the specials fall off they will surely be calling the customer service line with huge complaints. The service is incredible, the prices can be tricky - its really a toss up
We had DirectTV for a few years, mostly for the NFL Ticket deal but after loosing my job we cut back on everything we could. It was cheaper for us to go with cable for TV and internet service than it was to have a phone line, internet and satelite. I don't think I will miss getting the NFL Ticket and I know I won't miss the cost!
I have a Dish Network rant... We made the mistake of trying to become Dish customers. They sold the Hopper to us by explaining it as this incredible product that records up to 6 shows at time with 2000 hrs DVR time. THAT IS NOT WHAT THE HOPPER IS. The hopper does not let you record more than two shows at a time and you have to be watching one of them! It also allows other TVs in the house to "hop" onto what you are watching. Who, with the exception of someone who lives alone and has multiple TVs would want that? We found it to be so useless, and so falsely represented, so we called to cancel the service just hours after installation. Of course they tried to upsell and asked us to wait and see if we like it and all that junk. Finally, they threatened that we will have to pay $400 plus dollars for breaking our contract (the contract they lied to get us into just hours before). After having to talk to a manager, they agreed to waive the fees, but we still had to pay the shipping to return their stuff or we would be charged for it. After a two month process with what we found to be a shady company, we are now hesitant to get involved with Direct TV since we have heard horror stories about them, too! So, for now, we still have our local cable company that offers fewer services and channels for more money. Needless to say, I am disappointed.
DirectTV is very popular here too but it's way too expensive compared to other similar services. I've tried it before, and it has lots of channels and info for each and every one of them. However, we've hired one of their competitors for years and the service has been great. It very rarely gets down.
We have Directv right now! Still have another year on the contract! The prices went so high, so I called them! They wasn't to helpful. I am saving only $6 a month. Also, I thought the HD was suppose to be free as the commercials say. I get a charge of $10 every month for HD. I called them about this to! They said that you have to automatic pay where they take it out of your bank themselves to get the free HD. I think that is crazy and they should let people know before you see the $10 charge on your bill!
At first, we were going to get this in place of our cable. But we're instead opting to bypass all these tv services all together and just go with the Hulu Plus/ Netflix combo.
The only issue I've had with DirecTV is that they kept adding the NFL package to my mother's account when I had cancelled it earlier in the year. I'm hoping that problem doesn't occur again this season as they claim they can't cancel it after a certain date. Other than that, I love DirecTV and for the packages that I want, it's always worked out to be cheaper. But, maybe I'm looking through NFL colored glasses as I cannot live without the NFL package on my account.
That is sad about the NFL package. I want to get this, but I am waiting on it to come down in price to a more reasonable level. You would think they would offer a discount to long term customers!
We recently cut the cord on cable service and went with Directv. I LOVE the service. It's WAY more advanced than cable! I love the fact that you can also access your recorded shows in another room. Right now it's really cheap since we are new customers. Even after the price goes up to the regular price after one year, it will still be approximately 30$ cheaper than we were paying for cable. The one thing I've been unsatisfied with is when we have a storm, the satellite loses signal. This has happened about 4 times in a month so far. Overall though, I'm extremely pleased with the service.
To those of you who have DirectTV: do you just have cable or do you use their internet service too? I got rid of Comcast a week or two ago, and after a year of begging me to get U-Verse, AT&T came out to my house and decided I live "too far out of range." (Even though my neighbor has it, but I digress...) So, I'm now looking into Direct TV, but I've heard so many people say it goes out if it rains or the wind blows. Has this been your experience?
The NFL is the most popular sport in America, it will never come down in price. Personally, I don't think the actual cost is that outrageous. But, then again, I love football and fantasy football, so I need to be able to switch over to every game in a moment's notice.
No, I have internet service through the local cable company. I like it that way just in case I forget to pay something the entire house doesn't shut down. As for the service going out, it really has to be a bad storm for it to happen to me. In which case, that means it's so bad outside that the power is close to shutting off anyway and I usually turn off the TV anyway. But, you can prevent issues with rain by putting Rain X on your dish, if it becomes a regular problem.
I use the local phone company for my Internet. The cable service is what I had problems with when it rained or snowed. It would go out then, but with DirecTv we have not had this issue at all.
I don't care for Direct TV. I just am not a satellite person. Plus, Direct TV is a lot of flash with no substance. They promote themselves as the best in their market, yet there are a lot of vital channels they don't have. And other vital channels they've lost due to contract disputes. Not to mention, having to pay for the NFL network. Ugh.
