In case you don't know who they are, Directv is far and away the number one provider of satellite tv. For many years now they have been better and less expensive than anything cable television could provide. And they have continued to grow and prosper, and any successful company should. My parents have had DTV for more than ten years, and although there have bumps along the way, the service has always been top notch. I switched in 1997, and until I moved to a condo this year, was a happy and faithful customer. Due to the location of my residence, I was resigned to being a cable subscriber. But after a few months of that disaster, I was desperate to go back to DTV. And now I have, but unfortunately, it has been a great disappointment. But I'm not the only one, as I have come to find out.
When I started my service again, I was convinced to get their latest and greatest creation. It's the HD20 receiver, a fancy creation with both HD reception and a built-in DVR. How could it possibly be trouble? Well, it doesn't work. It doesn't record programs most of the time. It has more bugs than a rainforest. So did I just get a lemon? Maybe, me and several thousand others. I only wish I had been reading about this disaster before making the purchase. It turns out that they knew this box was a lemon, but pushed it out anyway, because they wanted to be able to sell their HD NFL Sunday Ticket package. They probably thought there would only be a few issues, and customers would smile and understand. But someone forgot to mention that customers usually expect products to perform as advertised, and when this does not happen, well, you know what happens.
So anyway, after cussing at this thing for a couple of weeks, I guess it got tired of hearing me rant. It crashed completely, and now I'm waiting for a replacement. And of course the HD20 is now on backorder. I was told it was in "high demand". I'm guessing they have had to replace so many of these turkeys that they have run out completely. And the final dagger was an unfriendly customer service rep, who pretty much told me that I would have to "deal with it". I asked for a refund, and was told I would be subject to a huge fee for cancelling the account. Yikes!
I'm a very patient person, but Directv has pushed me to the limit. I'm sad to say it, but I'll probably go back to cable, as I expect this debacle to eventually kill DTV. Sometimes companies make mistakes that cost them dearly. Well, Directv has just released the latest version of New Coke.
posted by JW @ 1:10 PM
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