DIRECTV's Ellen Filipiak Takes The Floor

If you've been reading this blog at all you know that me and DirecTV have been at war for quite awhile - not just because they done me wrong, but because they have been a mess of broken promises, processes, bad policies, poor culture and a myriad of other "bads" that make for what for me (and many others) a miserable customer experience. Well, about two months ago (less than that, really) they hired Ellen Filipiak as the Senior VP of Customer Care to fix all of this. Starting today, and repeating every two months on the first of the month, Ms. Filipiak graciously consented to let us know how much progress and what progress they are making to transform DirecTV from its very broken state to a customer-centric company. So, take it away, Ellen Filipiak and readers, feel free to drop comments in if you think it merits it or send me an email and let me know what you're thinking if you care to be more private about it.

Ellen Filipiak

First of all, I want to thank Paul for his invitation to blog here over the next few months. As he recognized, I joined DIRECTV in April specifically because it is experiencing unprecedented change and its resulting challenges.This change presents so many opportunities - both for customers and the organization - to benefit from service excellence, and I am moving forward quickly to make that happen.

DIRECTV is positioned to be the market leader for HD programming this fall. One out of every four households has an HD-capable set, and they want HD programming. DIRECTV is best positioned to meet that demand. Honoring our commitment has taken a tremendous amount of preparation to get customers installed and ready to go when more HD channels arrive this fall. As a company, we could have managed customer expectations better earlier in the year.

By example, some months ago, customer demand for HD receivers put our service systems to the test. We managed available supply of receivers to meet the tremendous demand. Some customers experienced delays and frustration getting installed and that can have a cascading effect on service for those affected.

Also in the last year, we moved to a lease program for our receivers, rather than the owned model. This is a change, particularly for our longer term customers, from past practice. Our senior executive team regularly reads e-mails, forums and blog postings regarding this, and has challenged us all to respond better to questions customers have about leasing versus owning.

As Paul and others know, enjoying HDTV requires an investment by the consumer, in a television set, receiver and programming, and by us, in developing more advanced receivers, broadcasting equipment and programming content. Although customers do have the option of owning their DIRECTV equipment, leasing makes the receiver part of this equation more affordable for customers. Since we are sharing in that investment, we feel it's fair for us to ask for a service commitment, even from our long-term, loyal customers who choose to upgrade to HD. However, we do need to improve our communication with customers who obtain DIRECTV equipment from a retail location, to make sure they understand that the they are still operating under the lease model and do not own the equipment.

The good news is we have plenty of receivers in stock and with these new receivers, we have the ability to provide HD programming upgrades to customers' homes on a national level through our satellites. What this means for customers are fewer phone calls to make, fewer appointments to wait for, and new features to enjoy - such as new HD channels like the recently announced HD Discovery Channels, History Channel and Starz channels. DIRECTV also provides customers with access to interactive services such as NASCAR HotPass, and MLB Extra Innings SuperFan package as well as updates to the program guide or CallerID features at the flip of a switch. In fact, in recent weeks we have rolled out many updates to these receivers and that has significantly reduced calls and complaints - it's truly exciting to watch this happen so quickly.

I also recognize from talking with customers and employees that we have many opportunities to enhance the customer service we provide. With this potential in mind, I have identified several key priorities to address including:

• Resolving a customer's issue on the first call
• Ensuring our representatives have the training and systems they need to successfully assist our customers
• Make it easy for customers to get to the representative who can best respond to the reason they are calling
• Informing customers that there are many ways to get information and service from DIRECTV, including directv.com, for transactions such as paying their bill, viewing recent account transactions and ordering pay per view.

To accomplish these objectives, I am touring our call centers around the country in June to seek out the best of what this organization has to offer. Innovation is found on the frontline where customers reach out to a company - and this is where we will find our best answers.

Overall, I would like to see us continue to leverage the technology we are rolling out to simply the television viewing experiencing so that our customers can best enjoy the increasing variety of advanced television choices that DIRECTV offers.

I look forward to posting future installments here.

Thanks again for the welcome and we can all look forward to an exciting fall, a season of change for DIRECTV.

Ellen Filipiak

Senior Vice President, Customer Care

DIRECTV, Inc.

[email protected]

Technorati : Customer Service, DirecTV

Comments

[Heather Barnstead]

As a Customer Relationship Manager for one of the largest retailers in the US, I am sick to see what this company thinks is customer service. We were wrongly charged a cancelation fee and since March have been trying to get it back. It is not October. I plan to do my part to tell the people of this country that this company stinks and should be put out of business. I have my job because people trust me and I am a big talker, I plan to use my god given talent to make them wish they never wrongly charged me or anyone else. Facebook, twitter hear me ROAR!

[Todd Dunnigan]

DRTV service is a joke. It's intereting to hear the whining CSR's who have commented on this post. "wah wah, people are mean to us" That's because everyone I have ever encountered at DRTV "customer service" is totally unwilling to help resolve any issue no matter how small. TRY to help someone, just TRY and maybe you won't get such disgruntled people on the phone. I've never heard so much "we can't..." or "it's not our policy..." The minute they have to go off-script they are useless, they can provide no service and the worst part is they are unwilling to try. DO NOT DEAL WITH DTV, YOU WILL BE SORRY. I read this advice before signing up but I didn't heed it, now I've had my service canceled (when I called to have my service transferred), plus they stole $425 from my checking account unauthorized, and none of the brain dead CSR's or their supervisors would even TRY to help me out. F DTV. Forget cable, read a book, go outside, anything but DTV

[Rob]

E-Mail to Ms. Filipiak:

Ms. Filipiak,

Thank you in advance for taking the time to address my concerns. I am a new DirecTV Customer (as of yesterday), in spite of what seems like your customer service departments best efforts. Let me explain the circumstances regarding the installation of our new TV service:

I recently moved into a new house with a few roommates, and after doing some research decided to sign up for DirecTV for the first time. My roommate, Brandon Cato, put the service under his name and it is tied to his work phone number (2026494276). When we signed up for the service, they said the technician would arrive to install the dish on Saturday, August 7th, sometime between the hours of 8 and noon. Unfortunately, Brandon had to travel that day, so I stayed home to await the technician. I heard nothing from the technician by about 10am, so I tried calling him (at least 3 times with no answer, and no response to any of my voicemails either). Finally, at about 3pm the technician contacted us and said that since he had called us earlier that day and nobody answered, he would not be out to install our service and we would have to wait until the next day (sometime between 8 and 5 pm). As you can imagine, spending an entire weekend trapped in your house while still trying to move in is a less-than-desirable situation. The issues with the installer didn’t stop there – after installing our service, he tried convincing us there would be an extra $75 charge for the difficulty of mounting the dish on a flat roof with so many trees around. Obviously our suspicion spiked when the gentleman informed us that it had to be paid on-the-spot, cash only. I only hope that other DirecTV customers haven’t fallen for this ploy. I do understand that this is a subcontractor and not technically employed by you all, but I might suggest a more thorough vetting process for these personnel. They are, after all, the front lines and first impression of DirecTV – wearing polos with your logo while entering your customers’ homes.

Again, though, I realize that you may have a thorough vetting process for your installers and that we may have just gotten the one rotten apple. The issue that really pushed your “customer service” over the edge was my conversation with the customer service center. I’m not sure if you record the conversations, but I called 1-800-213-5460 at 2:00pm on Saturday the 7th of August, and spoke with a man named John (who would not allow me to speak with his manager, nor divulge his last name). John had many reasons for me that the installer apparently called us (with no record of missed calls or voicemails left) and would not return any of my calls – climbing ladders, bad cell reception, etc. He also tried explaining that the installer has the hardest job of anybody involved in the process, myself included (of course he does! I’m paying him! I shouldn’t have any job, let alone a difficult one). I finally told John that I was not interested in excuses, and I merely wanted to know how the situation was going to be resolved. At this point his response was that if I didn’t start acting reasonably he was going to hang up on me. I then asked for his manager and he refused to connect me to one. Finally, I told him that I was a first time DirecTV customer and that this was not a good first impression. His response? “Let’s keep things straight. You’re not even the customer, you’re his roommate.” I wonder if John is aware that many young professionals split houses in urban areas (as well as costs such as utilities). Let me assure you, if I want to cancel DirecTV and talk to Brandon about what happened, he’ll be happily on board with my suggestion.

Re-reading the story I just wrote out to you, I still find myself in awe. These people are being paid to represent your company, and are doing so in an absolutely unacceptable manner. I have worked in a service industry for several years, and have learned a few things. First and foremost, if you do something extremely well, a customer might tell one person; however, if you do something extremely poorly, a customer will tell 10 people. It is absolutely imperative to the continued success of service companies to provide the absolute best customer service possible. I would imagine this would be a concern for you all given the increasing competition in the premium television industry. I can tell you one thing: unless something very impressive changes my mind in the near future, you have lost a small sliver of market share forever – I will not be a repeat customer.

Sincerely,

[Steve Nalley]

Dear Ms. Filipiak,

I'm a long time DIRECTV customer who is going to drop DIRECTV because of there poor customer service. My 7 years old received died and I was told I would have to paid for a replacement to be ship out. When I received the unit the remote will only work with the receiver. It does not work with my three TV's or two DVD players. Your customer service people told me that they would not replace the remote as it's works with the receiver. The fact that the remote is a multi-function remote and the two other in my house work just fine was my problem and not there. So if this is how DIRECTV is going to do business then I think everyone should fine another company to do business with.

[Kimberly]

well it is now June 2010 and they are still lacking customer service!!! Ridiculous!!!!

[robin lee]

The following was sent to this Filipiak person. I was promised I wouldn't be charged the cancelation fee. Well, guess what I got charged? the fee!

March 16, 2010
Ms. Ellen Filipiak
Senior Vice President of Customer Care
Direct TV
2230 East Imperial Hwy
El Segundo, CA 90245

M'am:
I am truly sorry to bother you with this issue, but I have been unable to resolve this through your customer service representatives. I have made numerous phone calls this morning and each time either I have been argued with or hung up on. The problem is as follows:
1. The HD dish was installed on my chimney at the insistence of the technician. The HOA does not allow the stucco to be penetrated. After the installation and the technicians had left, I noticed they punched holes in the stucco on the chimney and also punched holes in the stucco on the rear wall of the house. I was hoping my HOA would never notice, but they apparently did.
2. I called Direct TV to have it moved; a technician came to my home and explained where/how they could move it to and use the existing cable that was left behind by Cox. However this technician found the Cox cables removed, he explained that they would no longer be able to move the dish. There was no way to run new cables from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor without tearing out the wall board or leaving the punctures in the stucco between the first and second floors.
4. I called Direct TV 800… to request cancelation of my service and remove the dish. I received arguments. The person I spoke with argued until I asked her to read the note on her computer. She transferred to another department. The next technician accused me of disrespecting him. Frustrated yes, but did not disrespect him. (I work in the Emergency Department and know full well what being disrespected is). I asked to be transferred to his supervisor, he then hung up. Called again only to find out, yes you would cancel my service for $250 even though it was installed wrong, but no one would remove my dish, I would have do it myself. I am a single woman living alone. How would you propose I climb up there and remove it?
All I want is to have the dish removed. I would like to not have to pay the cancelation fee but I realize that part of this is my fault for not asking Direct TV to correct the problem six months ago when it was installed. A speedy resolution would be appreciated before the HOA puts a lien against my home for being noncompliant with the CCRs. I will have to pay for the repairs to the stucco.
The take home point: Will you please have a technician remove and dispose the dish? Since they got it up on the chimney they should be able to get it down.
Sincerely,
Robin A. Lee

[David Evans]

http://www.petition.fm/petitions/open/ Would you reward a kid for stealing from your purse? Of course you wouldn\'t.Then why is the Foot Ball League rewarding DTV with exclussive rights? They lie , cheat , and steal.They charge you to lease their equipment , then charge you upto $5.99 to protect it against repairs.They will also make unauthorized charges to your credit/debit card.This is 100% accurate , google DTV complainsts , it will blow your mind , they had over 20,000 complaints in 3 years , thats a BBB record.They have 3 lawsuits pending , in California , Washington , and Oregon.This does not include the silent suits.My goal is to get congress to open the Foot Ball League Sunday Ticket to cable companies , And all Satellite companies , At the top there is a Petition , my goal is to get 1,000 signatures then I\'m sending the petition to congress.America needs competition , what if there was only 1 electrc company , gas company , Or auto maker?You Get the point , Thanks for your support!

[Jerry]

As a MultiBand employee, I too can attest to the problems that exsist in DTV, and MultiBand.

Based on my experience as a technician i.e. we are not provided with enough equipment to complete our jobs, problem with recievers that are reconditioned, rude behavior from DTV personnel as well, terrible installs from some technicians, MULTIBAND treats Technicians with no respect etc....This is why there is such a problem with customers, and as a technician I can attest to the problems they are having...Because we the TECHNICIANS feel the same way..

MULTIBAND wants to threaten technicians with their jobs in this economic downturn, and stop us from recieving overtime, we are told not to claim our full hours in a 6 day work week, because we are paid by the job, not by the hour.

Technicians are charged back for not installing recievers in a 30 day time period i.e. 65.00, 150.00, 250.00 etc...who can afford that..

So at the end of the day...disgruntled employees is the complete problem with the service the customer is experiencing.

[Joanne Hughes-Taylor]

As a retired AT&T employee and currect Director of Sales & Service for a financial institition, service received by DRTV and MultiBand is appalling.

It has been 3 long and frustrating months and my issue with DRTV and MultiBand has just been resolved by "Ed" with DRTV. Without going blow-by-blow over 3 months of mindboggling incompetencies - most of which are listed in previous blogs here - including conflicting information, broken promises, CSR's without ability or willingness to actually help a customer, CSR's who are rude and hang up on customers, CSR's who refuse to transfer customer to supervisor and refuse to provide a name or telephone number, lack of communication between DRTV and MultiBand, etc, etc, etc...

THANK YOU, ED, FOR FINALLY ASSISTING IN A HELPFUL AND LOGICAL MANNER.

All this creates doubt that Ms. Filipiak has been instrumental in affecting any change at all. I also wonder how much longer DRTV and MultiBand can survive with this level of service. Be certain that as long as a competitor can provide satellite programming, SERVICE WILL SET THEM APART FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!

As a 25 year employee of AT&T, this is concerning since my company is a partner.

[Raymond Knight]

Dear Ellen Filipiak,

According to the company webpage, “at DIRECTV, excellence isn't just a goal. It's a promise. We are defining the best TV experience in the world through a compelling mix of content, technology and service.” This philosophy and all of those outrageous claims may be true on paper but it is far from my experience as a new and currently disgruntle customer (on the verge of cancellation).

Yes, it’s true. Initially, I started out happy with the entire arrangement but the DTV experience managed to sour all of this good will to the point that I am now fed up and wish to cancel my service, obtain 2 recovery packs and send you your satellite boxes. In fact, that is what I am asking for. Obviously, I am not happy with DTV, but how did I get here?

Today, I called customer service again due to yet another unexplained service outage. The system just died on me. This call was one in a series of calls made since the system was installed. With this call, I explained to the rep that I watched TV for a brief period in the morning. However, when I turned it back on in the afternoon, all I was getting was the “searching for signal strength” prompt.

Without warning or any prep, that rep simply transferred me to another. So, I explained my situation to that person all over again. She then connected me to “Luke,” a supervisor to whom I reiterated yet again. Luke ended up telling me that I had to pay a technician to fix the equipment that DTV installed. I explained to him that I did nothing wrong. Why should I pay anything on faulty equipment that malfunctioned in just 6 months? He had no real answer.

This just one of many issues I have with DTV. When periodic service laps motivate me to place reluctant customer service calls, the technicians seem to be relatively unskilled not only in technical matters but matters of customer service as well. They are often rude, short tempered and just plain wrong about the corrective information they provide. One didn’t even speak the language very well. Can you imagine trying to explain a technical problem to someone who English is their second language? It makes me wonder how any one on earth can buy into this “promise” philosophy or any of the boasting described on your web page. Clearly, my experience shows that your staff does not.

I have been a customer of several TV service providers over many years. However, I have NEVER experienced so many technical, logistical and service problems as I have with DTV. The problems ranged from no shows installation techs (the first red flag - looking back), to rude, untrained customer service staff (including so called managers), technical service reps devoid of any appreciable technical expertise, faulty equipment, unreliable service and to top it all off, lousy programming!

The second red flag was the price. Initially, I was sold a package that was to cost $32.67 after staff and a sales representative crunched all the numbers. This was significantly less than what I was currently paying another service provider. Based on this data, I made a purchase decision. However, one month later when the bill arrives it’s for nearly $50.00. Now, you don’t have to be a practitioner of Euclidean geometry to recognize this numbers game. It’s the old bate and switch. I was lured in by the promise of great service at an unbeatable price only to end up with neither. When I contacted customer service, no one knew anything about that offer and the sales person was no where to be found. That turned out not to be surprising since your company has outsourced call centers to India , the Philippines and other regions. It seems that much of the operations are subcontracted to all types of individuals under various conditions.

Obviously, had I known that these types of tricks were being used I would have never signed up with your company. When searching for the appropriate word to describe my exposure to the “DTV experience,” only one comes to mind - horrendous!

According to your webpage however, DTV offers great technology and services to its customers. That’s the spin. The reality is that you are not even providing consistent substandard services. The key word is consistent. In fact, what I’ve experienced is nothing short of a breach of contract as DTV has consistently failed to honor its own boastful, grandiose claims dealing through dishonest business practices as it doled out inept, crude and horrible service on many levels.

Personally, I know several customers who are not too happy with what DTV is actually providing. In fact, a casual search online reveals a plethora of DTV complaint pages noting the same types of complaints contained in this letter. If you do this search, you will read countless customers complaints about shoddy services, rude managerial staff, numerous unexplained service outages, inconsiderate and untrained customer service personnel, unreliable equipment, extended hold times during calls, etc, etc, etc... Has anyone from this company dared to take a look? Does anyone at this company really even care enough to look?

I don’t understand how your company can make such outrageous claims and then not even meet basic customer’s expectations. It’s not that you’ve lowered the bar on the provision of even basic customer and technical services, you’ve actually dropped it. Thank you for your attention.

[Mini]

Ms. Filipiak
The service I received this week from Direct TV was horrible! It all started with a scheduled/cancelled/reschedule appointment and ended with an incomplete installation and a crack in my ceeling! I made an appointed early this week to have my Direct TV jack repositioned above the fireplace. The operator told me to have a TV, DVD, gamesystem, etc, ready for the technician. I agreed and went out and bought a TV to have it mounted above the fireplace. Two days later I called to confirm my appointment. Apparently, I did not have an appointment. Fine, I rescheduled it and was told that a tech would come on Saturday between noon and 4:00pm. I called Direct TV at 4:30. I called several times and eventually, around 7:30pm I was told that he would not show until Sunday. He arrived on Sunday morning around 9:00am. I found out that not only would I be paying the $99.00 fee for Direct TV but I would be paying him an extra $50.00. Once again I called to complain to Direct TV. They apologized but said that I would still have to pay. Fine, the tech got to work. Around 4:00 I heard a PLOP above and saw a huge crack on my ceeling. The tech came to the living room and told me to sign for the boxes because he had to leave to Lampassas for an emergency but because he was leaving the boxes I had to sign. He left and said he would return. 3 hours later he is still not here. Now I have one TV working. The TV and the Direct TV jack is not above the fireplace. In fact, it is still on the floor and I have a crack on my ceeling. To make things worst when I called customer service and asked to speak to a supervisor she hung up the phone in my face. If this is not horrible customer service I don't know what is. I have been a loyal customer for years but I'm not sure how much longer this will last. Please help a truly unhappy customer/blogger.

[Octavia May]

Dear Ms. Filipak,

My family and I have been hit just as hard economically as anyone else. We have been making decisions regarding where and how to spend our money. We decided that because everyone likes our Direct TV that we would forgo some of the other things we to and put our entertainment dollars into our television viewing.

I called today to inquire about adding a receiver to my home for my kitchen and I was told that I would have to pay $69.00 for the receiver and then I would incur a charge for the receiver monthly and I inquired from the gentleman why after paying for the receiver would I be charged monthly. I was told because I already have four of them, so I am being punished for having too many boxes?

I asked why I was not charged $69.00 for the other receivers and was told because I was new they wanted me as a customer. I said to him now that you have me as a customer you don’t want to keep me as a customer? Why can't I add another regular box and pay the extra charg e just like I pay for the other ones? I was told there are many other competitors out there if I did not like what I was told.

In this day when people are not clamoring for your service but leaving your service you would think that you would encourage your people to save the loyal customers that you have, but I see you do not want your old customers you want your competitors to have your old customers, and if we don’t like what you do we can get lost!!!!!

[Kenneth Plante]

I recently signed up for service on 2/17/09 and am very upset with the lies that were told to me by your sales department. When calling to sign up I informed the sales rep that I was a AAA member and he told me that was not a problem that I could call back after activating and get that applied. When I call to get it applied everyone is telling me that I am not eligible. Then I want to disconnect because I am not getting all of the discounts that I was promised and I am being told I would be charged a disconnection fee. I was dealing with ID# 404114 and 411481 during this. I do not understand how your sales reps can bait people into signing up by promising them discounts and then not honor the discounts after you sign up. I would appreciate follow-up before posting this all over the web.

[Lezlie with Virginia Railway Express]

February 12, 2009-
Reading some of the nightmares others have had and what I've just gone through, I see Ms. Filipiak has not been able to affect change. DirecTV's customer service is virtually non-existent. I have been ignored, lied to, hung up on, sent in circles. I have repeatedly requested a manager call me because I do not want to harrangue powerless call center people. I've gotten no where with that request. I just want my problem addressed and my service restored. They have no protocol for satisfying customers with real issues.

I will say I have spoken to a couple of call center operators who have tried to be helpful. But apparently, there is no protocol or system set up for them to deal with anything other than remote resets.

I should say I have this service set up for a business location in an industrial area where cable is not available. If cable were available, I would gladly go with Cox or Comcast. I use Verizon FIOS at home and LOVE IT.

[Mike K]

A letter just written to Ellen

Ms. Filipiak,

I am writing you because I have reached the end of my hopes of a resolution. Let me first apologize for the length of this message and for the probable tone, but I am to say the least, very unhappy.

Ok, where do I start? Well lets start at the installment of my DirecTV system. I contacted your company and arranged to have a technician come out on a Friday afternoon between noon and 4 pm. This meant that I had to give up a half of a days pay to have your service installed.

I contacted the main office just after noon to find out when the tech may be out, but she only told me that it would be between noon and 4 pm. At 3:30 I called back and they told me that the appointment was not until the following day. I argued the point but they said that they had nobody available to come out. The following day they called me at about 3:00 pm to tell me that they were going to have to reschedule because the driver was involved in a car accident. My response was that I was going to the Dish network and not to bother rescheduling. They called me 30 minutes later and told me that the driver was fine and that he would be there within the hour. He arrived at 6:30 that night. I took the time to walk around his truck and mentioned to him that he faired well for being in an accident. He looked at me weird and asked me what I was talking about since he had not been in an accident. (They lied to me)

I then relocated to another residence and asked to have one of your technicians come out to get me hooked up. He could not get the signal to come in at all and actually I solved the problem by making some simple suggestions. He secured the dish and I asked him if he intended on leaving all of the wire ties unclipped. He started clipping them and dropping them into my neighbors patio down below my apartment. I immediately stopped him but when he left I realized that he had taken the old dish and left it laying in the middle of the lawn. This guy was tripping over his own pants since his waist was so low below his belt. My goodness.

Now lets get into my immediate problem. I live in Houston and as I am sure you are aware of we got hit by a hurricane in September. I have been without service since then. I called your company and they told me to not call us, but they would call me (Their exact words). That was 9 weeks ago that I have been without TV. I have received two computer messages that said that I was still on the list to be repaired. But then there was this guy named John who called and said that he was on his way to my home and would be there in a few minutes. I was at work at the time and I cannot just take the time to leave to meet someone with such inconsideration. I simply told him that I was at work and that he would have to give more notice. He told me that he would put me back on the list. (My question is why do you schedule customers out over a week and give them a 4 hour window, but then expect your customer to be home when you call them?)

A few more weeks went by so I decided to call your company. They said that they would not be able to come out until Thursday the 20th between noon and 4pm again. Once again I took half a day off without pay and called your company the night before to confirm the appointment. Everything was scheduled so I waited. At 2 pm a girl from one of your offices called to confirm that I was home. I told her that I was and asked that she nail down when the tech was going to be there since I did not want to waist an entire afternoon. She said that she would confirm and call me back. She never called back.

I waited until 5 pm and then called the main office. They referred me to the local office which had me on hold for over 15 minutes. I finally hung up in disgust. I had looked forward to watching the NFL game that night so I headed out to a friends house. Then at 6 pm a computer calls my cell and tells me that the tech will be there within 15 minutes. It asks me if I am available, or if I want to reschedule or cancel. I said I wanted to cancel. So it puts me through to an assistant who got very frustrated because when he tried to get answers he got hung up on. 30 minutes later a lady calls me and says that the tech is outside my door and want to know why I am not there. This is almost 7 pm and your companies commitment to me was between noon and 4 pm. To say the least, I was not a happy camper when she gave me attitude about not being home when your company what almost 3 hours late.

Today I called your main number to talk to a supervisor. I asked the supervisor to convince me why I should not change cable companies after the treatment that I have gotten. She said that this was not her job.

My number is listed below and I would love to talk to you about this, but I can say that I am not an isolated case. I have shared war stories about your company with others and personally, I would prefer to keep my service. However if this is the way that you treat your customers, then I will take it to the next level as well as change providers.

I must ask you the same question that I asked the supervisor today,,,, why shouldn't I change service providers after what I have been through? Please help me out here.

I look forward to hearing back from you. The best number to reach me on at this time is my cell.

[Jeffrey Williams]

Sent to ellen...We will see if she provides help:

Dear Ms. Filipiak,
We normally don't go this far with our customer support type issues, but after our latest encounter, we can no longer 'suffer in silence'.

Just for background, we have been customers of DirecTV since about 2000 (we changed to a new account number in 2005 when we moved). The reason we decided to go with DirecTV is that I wanted to get the NFL Ticket so I could watch the Chicago Bears while I live in Texas. In all that time, we never switched to another service, or bundled with out broadband provider to save money as I wanted to keep the 17 weeks of NFL programming. I have had to justify the cost to my family over the years and deal with the complaints when the service would go out during rain or wind.

After the experiences we have had the last couple of months, there is no more justification. Let me take a paragraph or 2 to summarize:

*Mid-August: We noticed an extra charge of $118 on our DirectTV bill for installation services of the HD receivers & dish. After 30 minutes on the phone, the Customer Service agent agreed that it was a mis-charge for the installation & credited our account.

*8/22/08: We were supposed to receive 2 upgraded HD receivers and an upgraded HD dish. DirectTV called us to tell us we had to make the change. Installer shows up with two HD receivers, but no dish. The dish was not put on his workorder. After calling DirectTV customer service himself, & complaining that DirectTV has left off many dishes from the work orders, we were told "Sorry" and were required to schedule another appointment. This appointment was schedule for 4-7 on September 22, 2008. I was given an order number of #5012155. The 4 hours we waited at home that day off of work was a waste.

*8/25/08: We notice the slaving/mirroring on three TVs was not working. I spent over an hour on the phone with customer service. The customer service representative had no idea why our TVs would not work. She continually referred to the "wiring in the walls", which had nothing to do with the problem. At the end of this hour, she said we would need to schedule an appointment for service because she couldn't figure out the problem. We requested the missing dish to be installed at the same time as our service call. We were told to call the local service man ourselves, & were then told by the service company that they could not bring a dish without a proper work order.

*8/28/08: Service man arrives & says the upgraded HD receivers do not allow mirroring/slaving. He suggested we spend more out of pocket money & told us to fix it ourselves. When asked why he couldn't fix it, he said they don't carry those supplies. Again, we're back to square one. We call customer service, & reach Jarvis (ID#U7831) to discuss the receiver. He knew right off the bat that our HD receiver could not mirror. He offered us 6 months free HD service for our inconvenience, which we accepted. While we had him on the phone, I asked to confirm our 9/22/08 dish installation appointment. I was then told that No, we did not have an appointment on that date. They were full. They had moved us to October 1st, which does us no good as we are out of town.

In those discussions, we asked what would be a remedy to the fact that 1) we own the NFL SuperFan package which offers HD football, 2) the 6 months of free HD wouldn't work because we don't get HD. His answer was that they'll credit us $20 on the SuperFan package. For the NFL ticket, we pay over $400 total. A $20 credit did not seem fair compensation. We offered DirectTV $20 back if they would come & give us the service we paid for already. Jarvis did not think that was equitable for DirectTV, conversely he feels it's equitable for us.

When we requested to speak with a Supervisor, Jarvis refused the request.

Now, we have an October 6th service call, which means we miss 4 of our HD Chicago Bears games (the ONLY reason we own DirectTV). But hey, we're $20 richer.

After reading the PGreenblog, we thought we would contact you for help.

HELP!

[syberlink]

Any Idea when Ellen will begin the discussion or did I miss something?

[done]

Hey Agent 0, do you mean mature like dropping a couple F bombs on people who have the right to express their discontent with a company that has earned the criticism? I do know what it's like on the inside as a csr & you are absolutely right about how hard it is. The reality is that too often Direct TV reps over promise, under deliver and under inform the consumer.

[Agent 0]

The point is none of you have any understanding whatsoever of what it takes to do the job that We do on a daily basis...this will be my one and only post on this pathetic website. The demand from both company and customer is great and i will walk the fine line and go out on a limb each and every time...but customer's dont want to hear anything that csr's have to say. Anything that is beyond what satisfies them...no the customer is not always right simply put...and the rules change so constantly because the customers want to run amuck over the service reps so when good tenured reps get the Pauls of the world who feel they have a right to say whatever to whoever whenever...that breaks the barrior the company and any company has to keep hiring..the turnover rate is too high for the call volume and yes some agents will get defensive and sometimes rude...But honestly if I raise my voice to someone do I expect him to sit there and take what I have to say because he has to? If any of you have that thought in mind you are sadly mistaken....to say the least.

believe it or not each and every customer service rep that you talk with that you try to run over will be impacted negativley that just might have ruined their day so when any of you get a particularly rude csr you have to be the mature individual....

Oh and If you think that Ellen gives a flying fuck about your blog you are again sadly mistaken..She is taking care of what needs to be taken care of in-house she is not here to stroke your ego and console you for a negative experience...be grown individuals and grow the fuck up..its funny on a daily occation how a 20 somthing like myself can better manage my finances and have more respect for the people that work for companies that I do business with

[Agent 0]

The point is none of you have any understanding whatsoever of what it takes to do the job that We do on a daily basis...this will be my one and only post on this pathetic website. The demand from both company and customer is great and i will walk the fine line and go out on a limb each and every time...but customer's dont want to hear anything that csr's have to say. Anything that is beyond what satisfies them...no the customer is not always right simply put...and the rules change so constantly because the customers want to run amuck over the service reps so when good tenured reps get the Pauls of the world who feel they have a right to say whatever to whoever whenever...that breaks the barrior the company and any company has to keep hiring..the turnover rate is too high for the call volume and yes some agents will get defensive and sometimes rude...But honestly if I raise my voice to someone do I expect him to sit there and take what I have to say because he has to? If any of you have that thought in mind you are sadly mistaken....to say the least.

believe it or not each and every customer service rep that you talk with that you try to run over will be impacted negativley that just might have ruined their day so when any of you get a particularly rude csr you have to be the mature individual....

Oh and If you think that Ellen gives a flying fuck about your blog you are again sadly mistaken..She is taking care of what needs to be taken care of in-house she is not here to stroke your ego and console you for a negative experience...be grown individuals and grow the fuck up..its funny on a daily occation how a 20 somthing like myself can better manage my finances and have more respect for the people that work for companies that I do business with

[Ron Scott]

It is a pity that DirecTV did not handle the transition from ownership to a leased model very well. They have not shown any allegiance to previous long term customers. When changing their format, and as a result they have made personally owned equipment incompatible, thus forcing you to change to their equipment. Typically one would expect financial compensation or a no strings attached trial period for those with personally owned equipment.

However this has not happened. Unfortunately, I was misled by their Customer Retention CSR into thinking this is what the company was doing. When I found that they had made my equipment incompatible, the CSR offered me a direct exchange to keep me as a customer. They would take my gear in exchange for theirs. I later found that this was untrue. At least according to the current administration, and as a result my personal equipment which had been negotiated as an even trade for their compatible boxes were taken and no financial compensation was provided.

To make matters worse, my contract was apparently changed to a lease without my knowledge or consent. They say they wrapped that into the fine print of the work order that I signed when their techs came and took my personal equipment away and left their boxes. I certainly do not believe it and have asked for a copy of my signed work order or revised contract, but as yet they have not produced it.

By the way I used the link on the DIrecTV site to email Ellen. David identifying himself as someone from the DirecTV's Presidents office called in response to my email to Ellen. Hate it that there are no last names in that company and in polite business settings it would be nice to know to whom you are speaking. David acknowledged DirecTV had taken my equipment but indicated they had thrown it out so they could not return it, nor did they have any intention of paying me any money for it. He indicated it was my misunderstanding of the exchange agreement and basically too bad.

He did offer to try to work something out if I would sign with them again. Hmm, taking equipment and not paying for it, I would call that stealing. The changing of the service agreement to incur a term commitment could be a misunderstanding. Without the source documentation it can not be resolved to anything more thatn he said she said, so where is the signed copy of the work order which I have repeatedly asked to be provided a copy in email, letter, and phone conversations. Meanwhile it sounds a lot like slamming to me.

All in all the impression I have been left with has not been good to say the least.

I suggest any potential customers to avoid this company like the plague. My experience has been totally negative of late ( I had been a customer since 1997). As a result of continued mediocre picture quality on the standard broadcasts as they add more channels, and pixel distortion impacting the HD whenever it rains, I decided to terminate my association with this company after several unsuccessful attempts by their techs to provide a permanent fix for these picture quality problems.

I have switched to FIOS and good riddance to a company that could care less about its customers as evident in their poor business practices. The CSRs follow a checklist and seem overly concerned with transferring you to another department as soon as possible. With problems or situations not on the checklist, it is nearly impossible to get help. You get stuck in a continuous loop with no one to speak to about the problem.

It is a shame that in order to compete any company should feel they must force customers to remain despite poor quality services. Likely that should be an indicator that there is something wrong if a company tries to put roadblocks up to keep their customers from jumping ship. If they were truly customer focused they would not need any long term commitments as most customers are willing to pay for a quality product.

Remember, competition is good, and you do have choices. Choose not to become a victim of the poor quality products, services, and nearly unethical business practices of DirecTV.

[Gene]

Directv has made a break from past protections in the United States. While most people enjoy protection from theft of programming, when Directv took the programming I paid for on April 10, 1997, Like any other citizen, I had the right to stop them. Six year later, when they found out, they sued me for having tried to stop them from taking programming for which I had paid. After running me out of money from litigations costs I had no choice but to sign a confidential agreement.

I will not tell what I had to sign to.

Generalizing, People of the united states have to be free to report crimes they are victims of. Free to report crime they learn of. People need to be free to be a complainant in reporting crime. Victims of crime should never have the perpetrator of any crime place a paper before them to permit theft again in the future. This would be the same as a rapist placing a contract in front of the rape victim not to tell. When these things are permitted, then the country itself sufferes from people afraid to report a crime for fear of lawsuit.

Directv is a long long way from just bad customer service.

25000 lawsuits and many private secret settlements might be a very telling story of a corporation run amuch.

wow what a buncha big honking babies! Im I SOOO sure you were just as nice as can be when calling and complaining. there are 2 sides to every story - too bad we dont get to hear the side of the CSR you spoke to....

[TK]

As of Dec 15th 2007 DirecTV is now removing any channel that does not have a simulcast in standard definition from their HD ACCESS package. They are now making you spend another 5/month for a HD Extra’s package.
I recently switched to DirecTV due to the recent additions they have made to their HD lineup. And when I signed up, all of these channels that are no longer part of the HD Access pack were of course included in that lineup. Even today, Dec 18th 2007, if you look at their website you can find these channels listed under the HD Access package features.
This is the most moronic thing DirecTV could have done, all it has shown me is that for XX price today you may get these channels, but for the exact same channels tomorrow, beware.
Luckily I have Verizon FIOS in my area, as well as Comcast which offers Video On Demand and a large extent of HD programming. I had been urging all of my family and friends to switch over to Directv, but that will sure change after tonight’s experience with the customer service department on this issue. I have never been treated with such ambivalence from DirecTV before, and they were downright rude about it.

[Steve M]

I have NEVER received WORSE a customer service experience than I have received today from Direct TV.

I has my account on suspension and it came off. NO notification WHAT SO EVER.. Not by mail or EMAIL. AFTER BEING HUNG UP ON 3 TIMES I finally talked to Yevon who was very helpful.. But could not reverse these charges.

I spoke to KEVIN a supervisor, explained to him I has no proof that I had been receiving the signal as the receiver hadn’t been switched on in months and I had not received notification of any kind it was switched back on… He offered me half of the amount..

I decided to pay the full amount and as I told him tell EVERYONE about the TERRIBLE customer service and DECEPTIVE practices of DIRECT TV… for thirty one losey dollars and change Direct TV has lost a customer for life and I will influence every friend of mine to never use Direct TV and how Terribly I was treated.

Next is the Washington State Attorney General and the FCC for Misleading and Deceptive practices.

Ellen Filipiak VP of customer service take note… I have been in customer service for 30 years and would NEVER treat a customer in this fashion.