MrTwix

Here is the story... (warning LONG)...

DirecTV Damage Claim Department – Account #XXXXXXXX
Attn: Yvette Martinez
P.O. Box 4227
Englewood, CO 80155-4227

27 August 2007

Dear Madam:

I am writing to tell you of a serious infraction committed by one of your service representatives for Premier Communications based out of XXXXXXXXXXX, MO. The synopsis is as follows:

• On Saturday, 4 September, 2007, I purchased a new 50” Plasma television along with a DirecTV HD-DVR from Best Buy in XXXXXXXXXXX, Missouri. They were to deliver both to my residence the following Saturday, 11 August.
• The Best Buy representative, at the time of the sale, told me I would have to call DirecTV to have them come out to install a 5-LNB High-Def satellite dish. When I returned home on the 4th of August after making the television and DVR purchase, I immediately called DirecTV to schedule an installer.
• The DirecTV installer was scheduled to arrive between the hours of 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 August, 2007. All was good up to this point.

• Tuesday, 14 August arrived. I stayed at work through the day awaiting the call from the DirecTV installer to tell me he/she was on their way to my home. The call never came between the previously scheduled hours of 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. At 4:30 p.m. that day, I finally received a call from the installer which went something like this:

MrTwix: “Hello, this is MrTwix”
DTV INSTALLER: “Hi, this is W.B. from DirecTV.” (cell # 417-XXX-XXXX)
MrTwix: “How are you?”
DTV INSTALLER: “Not good. It’s been a bad day. I am on my way to your house and I need directions”
MrTwix: “Which direction are you coming from?”
DTV INSTALLER: “Highway XXX about 2 miles out of XXXXXXXXX”
MrTwix: “You are very close to my workplace. Meet me at the restaurant by the stop light and you can follow me home. I will be driving a red Ford Thunderbird”
DTV INSTALLER: “OK. I will see you in five minutes”
MrTwix: “OK”

• I met the DirecTV installer at the restaurant and he followed me to my home approximately 1½ miles away. Upon our arrival at my home we both exited our vehicles and the following exchange took place:

MrTwix: “So, you are having a bad day?”
DTV INSTALLER: “Yes, and it just got worse”
MrTwix: “How’s that?”
DTV INSTALLER: “You’ve got all these trees here in the direct line of site for the dish I am installing”
MrTwix: “Is there any other location where you can install the dish?”
DTV INSTALLER: “Well, it has to point to five (5) separate satellites (and then he starts pointing in five (5) different directions within a 180° span from North-West to South-East). These trees are in the way of one of the major satellites” (The trees in question were to the North-West [and heavily wooded area] of the two current round dishes installed on the side of my home)
• At this point, I start looking around my property for an open area that might accommodate a dish pointing in five different directions. I make a few suggestions to the installer about potential locations all around my property.
• During this time, DTV INSTALLER is looking through his meter to determine the angle and location of a suitable installation point. He states to me, “The only real good place is directly in the center of your roof. I will put it there”
• I was not happy with this as I live in a very nice neighborhood and did not want my home “junked up” with a satellite dish and four (4) associated cables mounted directly in the center of my roof where everyone driving by could plainly see. This, not to mention that I am also the city manager of the city for which I live in. I, again, made suggestions as to other alternate locations to which the DTV INSTALLER replied, “We can’t mount on the eaves or on the brick. It is against company policy, not to mention that the dish is too heavy”
• At that point, I had no real options yet I had just spent thousands of dollars to purchase a new high-definition television and HD-DVR. I was getting that “sinking” feeling in my gut that I would have to forgo high-definition service on my new, and expensive, television.
• I inquired as to which trees I would have to remove to make the installation work if he were to mount the dish on a pole at the corner of my house directly below the two (2) current satellite dishes.
• The DTV INSTALLER, again, pulled out his meter and peered through it to make the determination. He said, “If you take these two trees out (see attached photos), I can do the install and it should work” (please note that the entire front half of my home is wide open to the southwest-south-southeast sky with no obstructions [see enclosed photos]. The trees in question were behind and to the left (approximately 20 and 30 feet, respectively) of the two current DirecTV satellite dishes installed on the eave of my home)
• As we had had a severe ice storm in southwest Missouri back in January, 2007, which caused significant damage across the region (to include destroying every tree in my entire front yard), I was hesitant to cut two more trees down since I had already lost so many in the front of my home. Nevertheless, I told the DirecTV installer that I would get my chain saw and cut the two trees down on the spot so he could start the install.
• The DTV INSTALLER stated that he could “not wait until I cut the trees down” and that he would go and I could call and reschedule the appointment for another day. In fact, he made this very same suggestion (call and reschedule) at least two other times since he had arrived on my property.
• I told the DTV INSTALLER that “by the time you get your equipment out of your truck, I will have these two trees cut down” and I then proceeded to get my chain saw.
• At that point, the DTV INSTALLER started to call someone on his cell phone. I later found out that he was calling his supervisor (at least this is what he told me).
• A friend of mine had arrived at this point and helped me cut both trees down. It took a total of two to three (2-3) minutes to fell both trees. Once down, my friend started to clear the branches from the closest tree to the house where the installer would be working. Even with the branches intact, the closest branch was approximately 10’ from the installers work area.
• As we were cutting the branches and clearing the area, the DTV INSTALLER yelled to me to come over where he was. I came over and he told me that he had his boss on the phone and that I would have to “clear away all tree debris” before he could start working. As these trees were significant in size, there was no way to clear them on the spot nor did I have the manpower to do so.
• The DTV INSTALLER wanted to have me talk to his boss (via his cell phone) to “verify” that the trees had to be removed before work commenced. At this point, I was very angry as it appeared that this installer did NOT want to do the job for which I had scheduled some 10 days previous. He had made excuse after excuse as to why I needed to “reschedule” my appointment in addition to not “having time” to wait for me to cut two trees down and not to mention that the trees now had to be “hauled away” before he could start working. I had complied with every directive and he rebuffed me at every step along the way.
• I eventually told him to “do whatever he needed to do (i.e. leave if he wanted to) and that I wasn’t going to talk to his “boss” to verify anything. I walked off and told my friend to stop cutting the branches and moving them out of the way as the installer wouldn’t be working that day.
• The DTV INSTALLER eventually came back over and told me that he could come back the following Thursday, 16 August at ANY time to install the system, He told me to “name the time” from 6:00 a.m. or later. I didn’t even realize that DirecTV came to install that early and I told him that 6:00 a.m. would be too early but that I’d have to take the morning off of work to be there to have him install the dish. I told him to arrive at 8:00am on Thursday the 16th and I would be there. He told his “boss” on his cell phone and, apparently, the appointment was again set. The DTV INSTALLER then left my premises.

Fast forward to Thursday morning, 16 August. The same DTV INSTALLER never showed up that day. However, after many calls to DirecTV and Premier Communications that morning and afternoon, a different installer, Ricky (last name unknown), finally arrived at 7:20 p.m. that evening. Yes, I had taken a WHOLE DAY off of work awaiting YOUR installer! No one had bothered to call me to tell me the new installer was to be delayed from the 8:00 a.m. start time until nearly 12 hours later. I had to make the calls myself to find out what was going on.

Long story short, the new installer, upon his arrival at my home, made a comment about the fresh tree stumps in the yard and asked if I had recently cut the trees down. I replied “yes,” and that the previous installer of two days before had told me I HAD to cut these two trees down to get a line of sight for the satellite dish. At that statement, the new installer had this immediate look of “Oh, No, he didn’t” on his face and stated that my new Hi-Def dish would be facing in mostly the same direction as my two existing satellite dishes currently mounted to my home.

When I heard this, I was angered even more than I had been previously considering the fiasco that had become my Hi-Def installation. I should stop and state for the record that the second installer was PHENOMENAL!!! He arrived at 7:20 p.m. and did not leave until the job was complete, and the 5-LNB Dish was activated…. At 1:15 a.m. the next morning. Yes, he worked into the next morning and was a perfect representative of Premier Communications and DirecTV. His technician number is XXXX and his name is Ricky. He was from XXXXXXXX, Missouri. He deserves a promotion and/or raise.

Lastly, as a DirecTV customer since June, 1994 (yes, the beginning), I had never been treated as I was by the first technician, W.B., who showed up on my property on 14 August. It was apparent to both me and my friend who was present that this man did NOT want to work. He was more concerned with having me reschedule the appointment than anything else. He made numerous excuses as to why he couldn’t perform the job until, I gave up and he left. Yet the worse part is that he told me I had to cut two trees down in order to have a line of sight to receive Hi-Def service. Your technician was in serious error. From landscaping officials I have talked to since this story started, this isn’t the first time DirecTV, or DISH Network, has had homeowner’s cut trees down unnecessarily.

I have enclosed many color photos of the two tree stumps now left from the removal of both trees. I have also enclosed photos of the location of the two (2) existing dishes and new Hi-Def dish in relation to the two trees. As you may note, the trees are BEHIND and to the left of the dishes. You may also note that the trees are nowhere close to where the technician would have been working. Considering all these facts, I am requesting the following happen:

• Full reimbursement and replanting cost for two (at least) 20-year-old pin oak trees (estimate attached) - $3,227.00
• Payment to landscaper for removal of two tree stumps (estimate attached) - $100.00
• Payment for three (3) men to cut and haul three (3) full pickup loads of (erroneously cut) tree debris off my property to waste disposal site - $150 ($50 each man/pickup load)
• $202.00 Payment for one (1) day taken off of work waiting on the second DirecTV installer who did not show up until 7:20pm on 16 August, 2007 (NOTE – first installer said he would be at my home at 8:00 a.m. that morning – No calls to tell me otherwise – The $202.00 is based upon a 40-hour week at my gross annual salary)

• The total payment I am requesting is $3,679.00. I will release DirecTV from all liability once I have received the fair market value, for the destruction of my property. It should be noted that 35’ trees are priceless and have significant intrinsic value that cannot be determined by a dollar figure. I am only asking for the closest replacement (in size) to the trees that were destroyed as you cannot purchase 35’ pin oak trees locally, or most anywhere, for that matter.

It is my hope that this claim is adjudicated quickly and without the need for legal intervention. The bottom line is that I now have two 35-foot pin oak trees that are no longer on my property due to the negligence and incompetence of one DirecTV installer. I had no want to cut any tree down much less cutting two large trees for no reason. Considering the location of the newly installed High-definition satellite dish, it would appear that I was given erroneous information by your first installer on the scene. I am not happy and this whole episode reflects very badly upon DirecTV and Premier Communications.

Should you need more information, please contact me using the information shown at the bottom of this letter. I look forward to hearing from you very soon.

Regards,

MrTwix
City Administrator
XXXXXXXX, Missouri 00000
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OK, so long story short, DirecTV denied my claim as W.B. (the installer that told me to cut the trees down) claimed to his bosses (after some type of investigation), that he DID NOT tell me to cut the trees down----A BOLD FACE LIE!

So, now I have filed a small claims suit against Premier Communications (DirecTV subcontractor in my area).. The max I could receive if I win is $3000 ($679 short of my original claim) but it is my only recourse. In fact, the DirecTV claims adjuster who gave me the bad news encouraged me to file suit in small claims court.

My questions to anyone out there who has actually stayed awake enough to read all this is:

--Have you ever sued DirecTV and, if so, did you win?
--What happened to you to make a lawsuit necessary?

I am just wondering what my chances might be...

MrTwix