DishNetwork or DirectTV?

I have heard that from many people that both Dish & Direct are bad about upgrading to new equipment for existing customers. My Brother was with Direct for 10+ years. He wanted new equipment & had to hound them to get it. They kept giving him the speel about "only new customers could get this or that". He had to chase it up the food chain to management before he could get what he wanted.

 

A 11.5 year DirecTV subscriber here. Up until I went HD, DirecTV was flawless. In Jan 08 I went HD, with DVR and the full basic package. The picture quality is beyond excellent. But the consistency of the product has been marginal. Especially troublesome is the need to reset the receiver frequently. The warning signs that a reset is needed, is the inability to tune from cable type channnels to HD local channels. Many times a reset is needed to fix this problem. Also since going HD the signal is lost much easier during rainstorms. Sometimes it is not even heavy rain. I bitched too them enough that I received the service plan free for the two years the commitment lasts. Overall I used to rate DTV a 9.5, now about a 8 due to the nagging problems I have had.

 

Since I started this thread, I thought I'd go ahead and give you all an update. I decided to go with DishNetwork, since I just couldn't swallow the upfront charges on equipment from DirectTV. This may be a long post, so bare with me.

I was shopping online between two DishNetwork dealers, but I didn't commit. Somehow, while I was typing in my phone number, I exited out of the website. Well, I got called a few minutes later from one of the dealers. I could not understand a word the dude was saying, but after several minutes of saying and repeating my address and phone number, I finally signed up to get a couple hundred channels and HD in two rooms. My scheduled install was July 9 between the hours of 12-5pm (this is my first sign of trouble as sometimes the installers don't even show until the last minute).

Come July 9th, I left work early and got home for the 12-5pm range install. No one showed. I called customer service...yet again, I couldn't understand a word the gal was saying. Come to find out, they wrote in "Drive" instead of "Court" and my city was "Walton" and not "Parker". How the crap do you get "Walton" from "Parker"?!! So, I fixed the address AND my phone number, which was one digit off, and rescheduled for July 25th since I am a pretty forgiving guy.

Come July 25th, my install was scheduled between 8am-12pm. I even called the day before to make sure my address and phone number were correct. They were. I waited past 12pm and no one showed again. I called customer service, verified my address and phone number were correct - my number was off again by a digit. They called dispatch to get someone over right away. Well, I waited another 3 hours and no one showed. I called customer service and pretty much chewed out the poor gal, but made sure it wasn't personal. Come to find out, my address was wrong again...they had "Drive" and "Court" mixed up again, and had "Walton". WHAT???!!! The gal had the nerve to tell me to reschedule for Aug 8th! Mind you, I missed about 12-13 hours of work for this. I told her it had to happen today and I want a sales manager to give my 6 months of free service. She couldn't do either...so I told her to take her service and shove it up her...(well, I really didn't say that...I told her it wasn't worth it for me to wait another day for nothing, so cancel the whole thing).

What a bad experience. I'm stuck with Comcast and I hate it. I have too much pride to go try DishNetwork again, so I'm considering DirectTV. Cool thing, though, is that I just picked up a business card for a DishNetwork CEO/President of a local authorized dealer. Maybe I can get some help and free service from them.

Thought I'd share my lame experience with everyone...I'm kind of flabbergasted that DishNetwork let me go without offering any consolation for my troubles...like they have a bunch of other potential customers, so "screw you back...we can make our quarterly profit margins without you."

 

I know you don't want to try DishNetwork again, but this would be a perfect opportunity to get a bunch of free crap. Call the president on the card, explain the situation, the fucked up addresses, missed appointments, etc. Get as many fees waived as possible and some free service (ie 6 months or something like that)! Get the lowest possible upfront cost and bill over the next few months. I'd even pay part of the what the normal bill would be each month to build up a credit and make it cheaper for you for even longer.

 

Ya, that's what I was thinking about doing...pretty cool how I came across that business card. I went to Inta Juice this morning and they had all these business cards laying around...low and behold, a CEO for DishNetwork here, locally! Sweet!

Thanks, pt!

 

Yeah....these HD/DVR boxes need reset A LOT.

Ours locks up more during playback of the DVR.

Check out this thread....
http://forums.directv.com/pe/action...read?rootPostID=10406503&returnExpertiseCode=

 

Man, thanks for posting your experience. It sounds like you gave your best self despite their lame customer service. I'd imagine this happens, how many times a day times how many cities, states???? Our technology is cutting edge but our cable services in the proverbial toilet. What the heck??

Did you ever try to call Comcast with I'm leaving for dish networks? Curious if they tried throw some incentives your way to not leave?

 

Here's one more update to my satellite television saga...

I got a hold of the local CEO of an authorized DishNetwork dealer...got her business card at Inta Juice. Anyway, called her up today and got the following:

1. 250 channels and HD Ultimate Package
2. HD receiver and PVR for 2 rooms
3. 3 months of service free
4. free installation...which is standard

and here's the kicker...

5. since the installer is also local, I have an appointment scheduled between 1 and 2pm this Wednesday with a guaranteed call if they can come early. None of that 8-12 and 12-5 range, which is so lame to me.

That's more like it!

 

Sweet! Let us know how it goes! Have you had DVR before? I LOVE it! lol My dam....darling wife paces so damn much I just hit the pause button until she sits back down! :roftl: Or when the kids insist on interrupting us for whatever little insignificant want or need they have. It's probably save their lives more often than they realize.

The dual tuner one is what we have! It would be nice if we had a big screen for PiP, but I think it works better as a second TV for the kids without another box/monthly bill. Also nice being able to record 2 shows at once while watching 1-2 others.

 

Hey pt! Just got it all working today! Woohoo! Finally!

The CEO gal I spoke with is very good...she even came by to drop off some parts for the installer! What service!

I did get the dual-tuner HD receiver with DVR and one standard HD receiver. They all work great and the picture is amazing! I can actually get all the channels that cable did not get for me and with lower cost. I have a Samsung 50" HDTV in the basement and a 47" Vizio HDTV on the main level. The dual-tuner is in the basement, which works out awesome since the TV itself does not have PIP. The Vizio has it already.

I'm very happy with the results, and very thankful that I came across the CEO's business card.

I appreciate everyone's feedback!

 

Sounds like a sweet setup! I want to get a flat panel TV at some point to hang on the wall to get it out of the way.

I certainly like Dish Network better than Time Warner at this point. Picture looks better, sound is better with my 10yr old JVC Dolby Pro Logic receiver (I seem to get more surround sound than with cable.... ). And it certainly cuts out less than cable did in our apartment. Something else I don't understand. All for about the same price. We paid $100 or so a month for digital cable and road runner. Now we pay $150/month for DSL, 250 TV channels, DVR, dual tuner for 2 TVs on different channels, AND unlimited calling plan (normal phone, not digital that goes out when the modem or power do).

 

Bumpin' and old thread!

After a year or so (or two years, can't remember) - our DVR box finally kicked the bucket. One of the biggest complaints about Direct TV is the DVR box and it's been 'freezing up'. We've been resetting the box to help and within the last few weeks - even live TV has been freezing up. My husband went to reset the box again and it never came back on. Dead.

So he called Direct TV and was on the phone with them for 2 hours.

They sent us a totally new DVR box and we're installing it now. It's a new box, new version with a fan in the back, made by a new manufacturer and apparently, the motherboard is also different. Let's cross our fingers this takes care of the *freezing up* issue!

 

well i have directtv and i enjoy it, but i also like having the nfl sunday ticket and all that good stuff, the hd is great and they keep adding more to it, the box is a bit pricey but they do have rebates for them and the services isnt to much i think its like 60 a month or something like that and never lose signal in the rain or wind

 

I've been noticing some glitches with our Dish Network DVR too. It's the low end model, but still... After almost a year I've noticed it pixelate DVR's sometimes even though there wasn't anything going on during the live TV. (as in, we watched it live, then played it back with friends)

It's also been recording things we shouldn't, but that could be the kids f'n with the remote. Trying to put on Sponge Bob, and suddenly set 3 DVR timers.

 

Within the last few weeks - we were getting the pixelation also during live TV. Although...the live TV really isn't live. With the DirectTV DVR box - it records the live TV onto the hard drive first and play back is off the hard drive. That's why it started freezing up during 'live tv' (so to speak). The hard drive kicked the bucket. Everything else has been awesome and I can't complain at all! I'm hoping this fixes the headaches over the past year.

 

CABLE
FTGDMFPIiTBW

 

I passed on Dish and Direct. Was long time TimeWarner. I now have At&t U-Verse and am amazed at the picture quality, even on normal def channels. Hi-def is incredible on my 61"Mitsubishi. Plus I have Internet bundled. There is an option to also add voip, but I opted out. The system includes a router with wireless and 4 port switch. Firewall is fully manageable through web interface. Digital recievers at each tv can run on either coax or CAT5/6. I can manage my dvr recordings from my cell phone or through the internet. $160 /month, 6 digital recievers, 1 with DVR, 300 channels, Hi-def package and 10Mb/2Mb Internet (down/up). Install was free and since i ordered online, got $150 visa gift card. Based on performance, quality, and service, At&t U-verse is by far the best package available if you can get it in your area. They have tools on the site to help you figure out availability. If you are considering dish or direct, you have to also look at uverse.

Check it out at www.att.com/uverse

 

Wow!That's a very good package there! That's about what I pay for 300 channels, 1 dual tuner DVR, 3mb down DSL, unlimited national calling (normal phone).

 

I am a die-hard DirecTV fan...