Anyone have DirecTV?

poppy · #1 01/09/12, 11:27 PM

Just wondered how they are compared to Dish Network. Me and Dish Network are not getting along. We've had it about 12 years or so and pay our bill by the year. Our dish on the eaves of the house is worn out and will not stay aligned. I'm tired of climbing the ladder to realign it every time the wind blows. I called them because our yearly payment ($707.00) is coming due and I want the dish fixed before I pay it. The guy informed me we would either have to pay $95 for the tech to come out and fix/replace it or else $72.00 a year more for a service agreement. I refuse to do either. From what I understand, the equipment belongs to them.

used2bcool13 · #2 01/09/12, 11:52 PM

We have direct tv, they are pretty reasonable here and we haven't had any problems with them or the dish.

I have to say that the only reason we have them is so that my DH can watch every football game known to man.

I think they have some kind of promotion where if you say somebody referred you and have their account number you both get a hundred dollars towards your bill. If you don't have a family member or friend with direct tv I would be happy to be your "friend", lol.

Sonshine · #3 01/10/12, 12:06 AM

We use to have dish, but had problems with them fixing their box when it started messing up. I switched to direct tv and have never regretted it.

SpaceCadet12364 · #4 01/10/12, 12:06 AM

We have directv as well, used to have dish at one point, and their customer service is woefully lacking most of the time.

They do still have that promotion going, Im pretty sure. I want to say we got some of those little cards with the account number on it so to make it easier to pass them out and get the $100 credits. I wish they would just lower the costs of it, that would be nicer. We like the channel selections for directv better...the channels we usually watch more often, we can have the midrange package at directv....but to get those same channels we like best, would have to have the top of the line package at dish. We dont do the special pay channels like HBO and such, unless they do a freebie period.

used2bcool beat me to it, the happy to be your directv "friend".... LOL

Chief Cook · #5 01/10/12, 12:28 AM

We have had DIRECTV from the begining. DH held out until the price went down to 500.00 for the system. And now they give them out like candy. LOL We have looked into the other company, but wasn't interested. Customer service has been great. We didn't put our dish on the roof. We had a huge pole out back for the old fashioned kind of dish, (which we neve installed) so the pole is more than enough for the little dish. I am glad it is on ground level. It works great and when it does get covered in snow, even I can reach it.

Harry Chickpea · #6 01/10/12, 12:44 AM

Had Directv for many years, went with Dish recently to cut $50 off the monthly bill by getting the absolute basic tier. Even with tivo and being able to skip commercials, the intrusions on the viewing experience have been enough that we REFUSE to watch a movie that has been broadcast - pay channel or not. We don't watch much sports, so that left us with Jeopardy, the news, and a few rerun series. We are MUCH happier with that and Netflix DVDs.

Skip the building mounts, sink a pole in the ground and anchor it and get a pole mount. Directv used to be great before the channels started doing major content cuts of films and shrinking end credits and inserting pop-up animations during key scenes and other irritants, but the same stuff is on Dish, so there is little difference to us. It will be a cold day before I pay premium prices for stuff like that.

patty12 · #7 01/10/12, 03:14 AM

dish is just as good , my son had that problem with direct and he called and had dish install thier system , when he called derect to tell them to take thiers down they wanted to fix the problem for free.
it does seem we have less outages in stormy weather with dish.

Laura Zone 10 · #8 01/10/12, 06:53 AM

Have had Direct TV for 10+ years.
Like any other 'customer (no) service' you have to be very clear on what you want and what you will pay for it.....
I will not switch, because no other carrier has the NHL package....and that is winters ONLY redeeming quality!!

idigbeets · #9 01/10/12, 07:20 AM

You need to be more demanding with dish, they WILL realign your dish for free. I used to work for both of those companies and customer service is important. If they refuse to waive the fee, cancel and go to DirecTV.

atobols · #10 01/10/12, 07:50 AM

We switched from Dish Network to DirectTV a few months ago. We had Dish for 10 years and all our equipment was failing. We called Dish 2 nights in a row and were on the phone for hours trying to get them to agree to new equipment. At the end of the second phone call, DH was done dealing with it and called up DirectTV and had them install the next day. I called and cancelled with Dish and amazingly they instantly offered up all new equipment without a price increase. Didn't help me much because DirectTV was already in and installed.

I have to say, I much prefer DirectTV now that I'm used to it.

huzzyjr · #11 01/10/12, 08:06 AM

Direct customers since 97. Pay 6.00 per month insurance and they fix everything have had to call them 3 times in the last year, equipment getting old, the heat this past summer was really hard on the outside lines for some reason so they replaced them twice. They also let us hook up the reciever we had in the kids room out in mom's travel trailer and just pay the 6.00 extra a month. Very happy with the company but I heard on the news just this morning that they were going up by 4%.

EasyDay · #12 01/10/12, 08:06 AM

Had DirecTV for years... no problems. When starting over in the new house, decided I'd try Dish. WOW... WHAT a MISTAKE! In two years, they had to come replace equipment FIVE times... with arguments every time! (Plus, they didn't have some of my old favorite channels.) When my contract was up, I dumped 'em and went back to DirecTV. Not one problem since then, and have my old fave channels back, too!

DishTV sux!!

cfabe · #13 01/10/12, 08:21 AM

I've found in the past for Dish to be cheaper than DirecTV in the long run. If you've got old equipment, it sounds like you're due for an upgrade. Call and ask for a "Dish'n It Up" upgrade. This will get you new receivers, HD and/or DVRs, a new dish and a free install. It does come with a 2yr agreement, but you've been with them 12 year already so probably not a big issue.

DAVID In Wisconsin · #14 01/10/12, 09:22 AM

I always got free service with Dish. When they told me what a service call would cost, I'd tell them to disconnect it. Then they suddenly found it would be free.

snowshoehair · #15 01/10/12, 10:04 AM

The difference between the two is that you rent and do not own the equipment from Directv. With Dish, you pay for your receiver and the antenna and probably the reason they don't want to work on it without charging you for the work.

arabian knight · #16 01/10/12, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowshoehair

The difference between the two is that you rent and do not own the equipment from Directv. With Dish, you pay for your receiver and the antenna and probably the reason they don't want to work on it without charging you for the work.

Not necessarily .
I Rented my receiver from Dish and was paying 5 bucks a Month~!
When I stopped their service,, and went to Direct TV.
I HAD to send the Receiver Back to them along with the Eyes from the dish.
At Their Expense, they send me a Prepaid Box to Ship things back to them.~!
Now having Directv, they Wave the receiver fee if you only have one~!
So I am saving 5 bucks a month right there by switching to Directv. Cool.

TnAndy · #17 01/10/12, 10:42 AM

I don't get it......everytime I compare Dish to Direct, Dish comes out cheaper. I'd switch in a heartbeat otherwise.

What I'd REALLY like is one of them to sell me channels "a la carte".......I really only want local channels + about six others that we watch......most of the basic "package" is useless to me, we never view them.

sisterpine · #18 01/10/12, 10:51 AM

I have had both and problems with both. Am back to Direct TV now cause I thought it was cheaper, but it is not, when i get the programs I want. So they are about the same in my opinion. Both way too pricey for my little income...but I find I watch a lot more TV now that I am retired so I get what I pay for at least LOL

ladykena · #19 01/10/12, 11:02 AM

We have had Direct tv for about 6 years. We love them.

ET1 SS · #20 01/10/12, 11:54 AM

We got DirecTV in 2001.

They over-billed us once in 2002. They wanted over $400 saying that we had ordered pay-per-view movies 24 hours/day for a 2-week period. They refused to admit they their equipment could be faulty. We stopped the service and refused to pay.

I have never watched any pay-per-view anything.

We fought them over it until 2005, when their collection department finally stopped pestering us.

I assume that either their equipment has the capability to be faulty, or else someone pranked us.