Directv anything I need to know before signing up?

[jerseygirl81]

Our cable is through our phone co. who is doing away with their cable service and offering Directv with a bundle package (phone/internet/tv). After doing some research and talking to a few who have it locally we've decide to sign up for it. I've been doing some research to find the best price and looking for any little extras that directv will charge us for that I might not be aware of when signing a contract. I found a AAA offer for $10 off a month so I might sign up through that offer. Theres also an offer in the entertainment book with a $50 visa gift card, I'm wondering if anyone has used either of these offers? Do you need a receiver for each tv, I read after the promotion time runs out its $5 charge for the 2nd and add'l receivers. We don't have HD tv's so we were planning on the dvr receiver with the $6 a month fee. If we purchase a HD tv in the future does that mean we need to purchase or rent a HD receiver plus the monthly $10 fee and is that something we would need on all the HD tvs if we had more than one or it stays at the main tv. Have you had any trouble with your service during bad weather? Thanks for any info. Linda

 

[MagiKitty]

I've had DirecTv bundled with Verizon. I also called them after AAA started the $10 promo and had it applied to my bill no problem.

Yes, you have to pay for each receiver, max 4. You need a received on each tv.

When they came to install, there was no fee involved for the home visit or installation.

I don't have the HD package so I can't help you there.

There have been instances this past winter when we did lose signal. Quite frustrating. My dish is on the roof, where I can get at it, so we just had to put up with it. So if you can, try to get the dish put somewhere you can get at it to knock the snow off.

I'm trying to think of anything else I can tell you....

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

Let me tell you our experience with Directv. We live in an area that the only internet service was dialup (or satellite, I suppose). Every so often I would call our phone company to see if DSL was available and finally it was. It discussing my options, the girl said that for ~$10 more per month more than I was paying for Dish and local phone service I could get local & long distance phone service, Directv, and DSL. So I agreed to switch. We were very happy with Dish and only switched because she said it would make DSL more affordable. She lied. And lied. And lied. I'm paying way more than $10 and we HATE Directv. With Dish we had 1 dvr and 2 TVs and could watch anything recorded on either TV as well as record from either TV. Directv does not have that capability, we found out after the fact. I was so worried that we wouldn't like Directv compared to Dish that I specifically asked how long we would have to decide to cancel and her words were "a few days", which was another lie - it's only 24 hours. I did call within 3 days and was told too bad, too late. We hate the guide with Directv compared to Dish - it had a lot more information. The installer drilled a hole in the side of our house and did not finish it off in any way or clean up his mess, and he jerry-rigged the wiring from the Dish dish on our roof and just drug the wire/cable across the roof; the Dish people hid it along the roofline and then secured it down to the spot where the dish was placed. I asked my husband to be home and he got held up at work and did not get there while the installer was there and he was furious when he saw what the guy did (and didn't do).

For $500 we could cancel our contract but we aren't the kind of people to blow $500 because I made a bad decision. We're stuck with this "service" for 2 years and you better believe we are counting down the months until we can switch back to Dish.

Just for the record, the lousy lying phone company is AT&T.

 

[heartsy77]

Another direct tv hater here! I got out of contract with no penalty; and went right back to dish network!

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

Another direct tv hater here! I got out of contract with no penalty; and went right back to dish network!

Was it after 24 hours? If so, please tell me how! I would do almost anything (except pay these cads money) to get rid of it.

 

[Kim&Chris]

We've had DirectTV for about 3 years now. While 99% of the time, I like the service, but you can just forget about reception if the weather is just a bit bad. Rain? Snow? Forget about it, you'll miss any shows that are on during bad weather.

 

[jerseygirl81]

I looked at dish network and they don't have the YES channel which DH wants so he can watch the yankees. We don't have to many choices in our area another local cable co. we had before and they used to have outages when the weather was bad and I hear it is'nt much better now. Linda

 

[lucky1]

We are directv customers for the past 7 years and have been happy. Much happier than we have been with cable.

You can have HDTV on one TV and basic on other TV's, with one Dish.
Cons:
You can not get "local" weather channel.
No on demand like digital cable offers
Heavy Rain will case drop off of signal
Have to have a receiver for each TV. ($4.99/receiver)

Pros:
No loss of signal or cable every month or when someone is digging in the area. (we use to lose cable for days at a time)
Fees not increasing on a whem.
We get our receivers updated at least every 2 years, at no charge to us generally to keep up with technology, we just call and ask.

From what I understand the further you are in the South of the country the better you will have with getting the signal. I know our InLaws were in Washington State and had problems with signal. Might have been where the dish was placed.

I guess I really depends on how happy are with Cable on if it would be worth it.

 

[jerseygirl81]

We've had DirectTV for about 3 years now. While 99% of the time, I like the service, but you can just forget about reception if the weather is just a bit bad. Rain? Snow? Forget about it, you'll miss any shows that are on during bad weather.

Is this common with a satellite dish in general or more with directv? Linda

 

[Poohbug]

We have had DirecTv for years and years. I am surprised how good the service is. It only goes out during really bad storms and then only for the time period the storm is directly over our house.

I like that you can change packages whenever you want.

It does seem like they have a lot of add-on charges. We do not have HD, TiVo or DVR, or anything extra.

 

[mom of 3G's]

The "low" price that I was quoted is only good for 12 months. After that it increases significantly; however, I could go to a lower-price package but lose the DVR capability. We are committed for 2 years otherwise we will have to pay a significantly large fee to cancel. The only reason I signed up for it is because we live in the country and relied solely on digital local TV; unfortunately we could not receive the NBC channel and I NEEDED to watch the Olympics. I did get a free trial of Starz/Encore/Showtime for 3 months and luckily I remembered the day it was expiring so I called to cancel it so I dodged them billing me for the next month. Sneaky...Sneaky...Sneaky.

 

[tinkarooni]

We have had directv for many years. We often suspend our service for the summer with no cost or penalty. We also call every now and than looking for special deals, they have always reduced our costs by some promotional amount. We are currently bundled with Verizon and I still get a $10.00 per month promotion, when that ends I will call again. It's ridiculous really that you have to work so hard to get the best price, but you do.

We also loose our reception but only at the heaviest point of downpours. It usually passes quickly. We don't get snow sitting on our dish, must have to do with the way it is angled?

Good Luck.

 

[pyrxtc]

We have had it for 6 yrs and haven't had any problems. My current contract expires in July and then I am on a month to month. Only contracted in again to get my DVR free. I don't like that I have to pay more to have it in other rooms or to use the DVR portion of my box but it's not too bad. Service is great and it only goes out when the storm is directly over the house.

 

[vicki_c]

We've had DirectTV for over 10 years - through 3 states and houses! We love it and can't imagine anything else. We love the guide, love the choices (only DirectTV has the NFL Sunday Ticket - a must for DH). We added the HD package last year after getting a new TV and it's awesome looking.

The only times we lose reception are very bad storms and mostly when they're approaching, and bad snow storms. Even when we lived in central Florida, we rarely lost the signal even in the worst afternoon storms. Once in NY, my DH had to go out and knock snow off the dish with a broom (but we had about 3 feet of snow).

And I think they have the best customer service of any utility type company that I have ever seen - they are so nice on the phone (and it's usually easy to talk to a live person without much wait at all), always try to help you fix any problem. And you can upgrade and downgrade your service really simply and it happens instantly.

So I have only good things to say about DirectTV. The only drawback is that right now there is no TiVo/DVR box for DirectTV - we have an old one we have kept limping along for forever and can't wait until they come out with a new TiVo DVR later this year (DirectTV and TiVo severed their relationship for a number of years, but that ended last year sometime) to replace the non-Tivo DVR we have.

 

[JessRabbit]

I looked at dish network and they don't have the YES channel which DH wants so he can watch the yankees. . Linda

That is exactly why I have DirecTV also! What a great start to the season!
Go Yankees!

 

[the chick & the duck]

Only Direct TV offers the NFL ticket. Any game you want every sunday. That's a must for me.

 

[DawnM]

We had Directv for 8 years in CA. When we moved to NC we switched to cable. We HATED it! We switched back to Directv and are very happy we did.

We won't be switching again.

Dawn

 

[lanirh]

Is this common with a satellite dish in general or more with directv? Linda

It is a satellite issue, from what I understand satellites that broadcast the signals are in the southern hemisphire... We have had cable, dish and directv and we like customer service of direct the best. They all have their advatages. We have HDTV's in two rooms and are very pleased with the picture that we get. I just added the DVR and have fallen in love, can't imagine watching biggest looser for two hours any more when I can record and watch in about an hour.

 

[jgates]

We have had DirecTV since approximately 3 months after they started. We were the 2nd home in our area to receive it, LOL. We have always been very happy with it. Despite the fact we live out in the country and even have an excess of trees around us, we rarely ever lose a signal.

1. In midst of a massive rainstorm or SUPER heavy clouds we can lose the signal. Maybe 3 times total during the summer? All depends on weather. And of course normally short-lived.

2. In the winter if the dish get snow covered in a 'sticky' wet snow, however, we purposely installed ours on a post, so we weren't drilling extra holes anywhere on the roof & so we could access it easily if we needed to clean it off (with a broom).

We have not gone to HD or local channels - haven't bothered to get the dish upgraded since it works fine. We still just receive a national feed from the east & west coast for the major networks.

DirecTV is still offering their refer a friend program if I am reading the website right. You can get $100 in billing credits (I think it's $10 a month off for 10 months) if you provide an existing customers account number (and they receive the same). If you want to do that (and if it will work with the package you are looking at), feel free to PM me for an account number. I'm sure any of the other DTV posters could provide theirs also.

All installers are independent I believe - so the complaints about installers will vary totally by where you live. My son had problems at his apt complex with Dish in fact & it took them a couple of weeks to get it resolved. The management company finally had to call and raise cain as nearly everyone in the complex had DISH & had same problem. So service & installation problems can be experienced with either of the systems. (In fact around here the same installers may be installing both systems from the logos displayed on their trucks!).

 

[heartsy77]

Was it after 24 hours? If so, please tell me how! I would do almost anything (except pay these cads money) to get rid of it.

Yes it was well into our contract; we had billing issues for months, ( every month they inflated our bill with charges for things we didn't agree to). I simply called them one day and said I was done. They transferred me to account retention specialist ans after a brief disagreement aggreed to terminate our contract, with no penalties , as long as we returned the receivers. They UPS us boxes to send them back in and that was it!