I have been with DirecTV since 1996. This is how they reward long-time customers: My Hughes brand receiver is no longer displaying channel guide information for one of my local networks. I can still view programming on this channel, but have no way of knowing what's on ahead of time. After discussing this problem with their tech support person and trying a couple of system reboots, I was told that this receiver box is going bad and it is time to replace it. DirecTV will gladly ship me a new receiver for a minimum of $100 plus shipping fee, or a replacement access card for one of my spare receivers for a mere $20. I do not need either of these options because I have accumulated eight spare receiver boxes from various garage sales and a brother (who will never return to DirecTV because of how he was treated) over the years. I called and asked them to simply "mirror" my active programming access card, activating it for use on one of my spare receivers, and deactivate it on the defective Hughes box I am currently using. I should state at this point that DirecTV has done this for me in the past when I had another receiver box that was malfunctioning. It was not a problem approximately a year ago to do exactly this. They proceeded to lie to me and tell me that they cannot mirror my currently active card to another receiver, and that they have never been able to do this. Again, this is a bold-faced lie.

My options were listed as: 1. Purchase a new receiver box for minimum $100 2. Pay a shake-down fee of $20 to the DirecTV mafia and wait a week for them to ship me a new access card for one of my spare receivers. Oh, by the way, if I had been "wise enough" to subscribe to their maintenance plan for a monthly extortion amount of $5.99 (not kidding on this one), then this would all be gladly covered by their kind-hearted company.

Terrible. Unethical. Immoral. Unacceptable. Greedy.

Word to the wise: Jump this sinking ship before it is too late! No amount of exclusive NFL season pass can be worth this horrific treatment. 12 years of loyalty and I get treated with a cold, calculated, grab for my dollars. Beware!


  Comments (2)
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1. Written by Tony Stout, on 22-11-2008 21:30

Name calling is never a good option. 

 

A little follow-up to my original post: Makes me wonder about supposed DTV employees like this person, "dumass" and others on this site who make similar DTV employment claims. First, how many of these actually work for the company as claimed. Second, how educated about the operation of these receivers are these so-called "employees"? 

 

Here's what ended up happening with my "defective" Hughes receiver: I also have a second, DirecTV brand receiver, and the guide information for this particular local station was not displaying on it either. A couple days after I emailed this local television station at their website, both receivers magically began receiving current programming information correctly on their respective guide screens. Hmmmm... 

 

Mysteriously, I never received a call from DirecTV explaining how my "defective" Hughes box was magically fixed. What it seems like to me is that DirecTV's tech support could not tell that the problem was actually with the programming being sent from my local television station, because after the station fixed the problem, my Hughes receiver was magically fixed. Looks like a whole lot of egg on their faces to me, if not an all-out money grab. 

 

I stand by my original statement: Jump this sinking ship before it is too late!

2. Written by dumass, on 22-11-2008 00:15

ur stupid i work for dtv , u need new access cards for garage junk'd recievrs because they are under prev acc owners , 20 $ is worth upgdin hughs to brand new reciever, doesnt cost 100$ unless u upgrade to hd or dvr, Genius. its crap cust's like u who try to act like u diserve credits and discounts cus u bin cust's for a few years, well u dont, dtv will live if u cancel ur acc so feel free

Comments on DirecTV will not let me use my spare receivers, GREEDY!

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