Ah, DirecTV. The battered consumer’s only viable alternative to Comcast, until AT&T gets its act together. I called DirecTV last night to schedule an installation appointment to restart our service. We’ve had our account suspended while Tina’s mom was in the Philippines. We never watch TV but she’s home all day and she likes to watch the Filipino channels.
I call DirecTV and I’m on hold for about 7 minutes until a guy comes on the line. After explaining to him I’d like to restart my service, he puts me on hold for another few minutes. Then, he tells me he has to transfer me to another department.
I’m transferred and a very nice, friendly lady comes on the line. I explain to her all over again that we’ve moved and I’d like the dish that can pick up the international channels installed on a pole in our yard and I’d like to restart service with a Total Choice package plus the Filipino service. I also asked for installation to occur on a Friday. So, we opted for Friday, February 29. All was well. We hung up.
Today, I log into my account on DirecTV to see how badly they screwed up my request. Sure enough, the $18 credit on my account has turned into a $9 balance. Why? Because DirecTV started billing me as of yesterday. Why? Installation isn’t scheduled for another 11 days. So, I e-mail DirecTV …
Why do I have a balance on my account? It appears my service was reactivated yesterday. But, I only called to schedule the installation which will be on Feb 29. Why should I have to pay for service I’m not going to have? Should I be charged for that? My billing should start on 2/29, not 2/17. Also, please advise what packages I’ll have when the installer comes and what the monthly charge will be. Thank you.
And, they respond with …
Thanks for writing. I’d be glad to assist you with your concern. First of all, I see that you’ve started your service on 07/29/06. We want you to know that we truly appreciate your business.
I’m sorry to hear about the confusion regarding the charges on your account for the days without service. In order to correct this, please call us at 1-800-531-5000. Our friendly and knowledgeable Customer Service Representatives will be glad to assist you.
Thanks again for writing and for giving us the opportunity to be of service to you.
Sincerely,
Marcelo C.
So, I respond and copied DirecTV’s CEO …
Marcelo C.,
Can you please explain to me the point of giving your customers the ability to e-mail a customer service representative only to be told in the response to call customer service?The questions I submitted via e-mail seem very simple…
- Why am I being charged effective 02/17/08 when my installation isn’t scheduled until 02/29/08, and
- How much will my monthly bill be once installation is complete?
Do you see how counter-productive it is to ask me to call when there is no reason to do so? Please, tell me … What can the people on the telephone do for me that you can’t via e-mail? And, if DirecTV can’t respond to such simple questions via e-mail, why even give your customers that option at all?
Tell you what … DirecTV can either fix my account so the billing doesn’t start until the installation is completed or they can just cancel my installation appointment. Up to you. Please let me know what you decide.
Thanks.
It infuriates me when I’m asked to call customer service to handle a request that could have been just as easily handled via e-mail.
Update 02/18/08… DirecTV responded via e-mail and gave me the answers I was looking for. Now see … was that so hard?
Update 02/29/08… After all this, DirecTV did not show up for the installation appointment. They were supposed to be at our house between 8am and 12pm. At 1pm, they called at said they’d be there in 30 minutes. At 3pm, they called again and said 30 minutes. At 4pm, Christina called DirecTV to reschedule the appointment because we were leaving to go to Orlando that afternoon. They rescheduled for next Friday and gave us a $100 credit due to the missed appointment. That was decent of them.
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