Direct TV Retention Dept Gets A+

DaleSC · 01-12-2008, 05:27 PM

Just called Direct Tv to get pricing on upgrading my daughters system to HD-DVR. I did get a good english speaking rep. I inquired about the upgrade to HD-DVR. She advised me that the best she could do was $199.00 for the HD- DVR and would ungrade the dish to a 5 LNB dish (free). I ask if she could do any better on the price, as Dish Network had a better deal than that. She told me that she already gave me $100.00 off as the HD-DVR is $299.00 (note that my contract with Direct Tv does not expire till Jan 2009. I also advised her that I was ready to cancel and pay the early termination fees. She ask if I could hold for a minute so she could transfer me to the Customer Retention Dept. I got another English speaking rep. (lucky me) I explained to her about Dish Network had a better deal than what I was just offered and that I was ready to cancel my sub with them and pay the early termination fees. She asked me if I would be happy with a free HD-DVR, 1 year of HD programming (free), a 5 LNB dish installed (free), and 3 months of HBO/Cin (free), if I would stay with them.

Of coarse there is a 2 year contract, which I have NO problem with. Had no intentions of leaving anyway.

So, they will go out of their way to keep you as customer, just got to get the right people to talk to.

erict · 01-12-2008, 07:34 PM

Good job. I am getting ready to upgrade to hd and I will be talking to the retention dept as well. I know those satellites aren’t cheap to throw up there. If I switch to dish, no cost. If I go with cable no cost as well. I still don’t believe in paying for the equipment if you want me as a customer. By the way my contract is up next month. I like d*** and would prefer to stay with them but there are other options out there and will let it be known to them.

mcbeevee · 01-12-2008, 08:01 PM

I've been calling Directv for over 8 years, and I've never talked to a CSR who "could not speak English".

erict · 01-12-2008, 08:15 PM

I think we all cringe when we have to call cs for any company knowing the the call is going overseas. Its nice that some companies keep there cs in the states were it belongs.

mostlyconfused · 01-12-2008, 08:21 PM

You're lucky! I tried to upgrade at the first of the year with Direct and they would do absolutely nothing! The retention department said they had no deals to offer me other than the standard upgrade, so I said I'm sorry I will be calling you back to cancel once we get Dish installed. I was a customer for 11 years! Now we are with Dish and when I did call back to cancel, the rep I talked to said she was sure sorry that she didn't get to talk to me before we switched over. Well they had their chance. Not much else I could do about it. How can you not take 'free' over 'pay'? We're pleased with our new service.

erict · 01-12-2008, 09:10 PM

When I call and the retention department doesnt give me a decent deal I will hang up and keep calling back until I receive a good deal. For me it's the equipment cost and installation that will make the deal. If they throw in some free programing that would make it sweeter. But like I said before we as customers should not be paying upfront for equipment that we lease. Cable companies don't do this and they have a larger infrastructure to maintain. My 2 vents I mean cents.

Peterlech · 01-12-2008, 10:41 PM

When I called, the Retention Dept cut the DVR price from $299 to $199. Wouldn't go any lower. Now I see they dropped the DVR price to $169-$199 anyway.

Too late, I signed up for U-verse. Besides no contract and a free DVR, it is $ 4.00 cheaper per month, and my non-local channels will no longer be on eastern time.

roscoe93 · 01-12-2008, 11:14 PM

When I called last summer I asked about the HD service and a HD-DVR along with a HD receiver to replace the old one I had.
Was charged the shipping charges of forty something dollars and a week later got a new dish , pole mount and was told to keep all the other equipment.
He left the old dish on the roof along with the cabling which will come in handy if something happens to the new dish.
No threats or begging and the bill is deducted automatically from my checking acct. each month.
Every company should be as good.

erict · 01-13-2008, 08:31 AM

When you own or work for a smaller company we all know that our current customer base is very important to the foundation of our company, With that said, with big corporations we don't feel that way when it comes to customer service. I feel sometimes that we have to jump threw to many hoops and resort to different mesures just to get something. The nine years I have been with them I have never seen a deal in the mail for currant customers. Only for new which we all want for our company's. As a customer I'm not asking for the whole ball and wax just a good deal which I think we deserve too.

Vikeologist · 01-13-2008, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erict

I think we all cringe when we have to call cs for any company knowing the the call is going overseas. Its nice that some companies keep there cs in the states were it belongs.

DirecTV's customer service dept. is not located overseas. I dont understand why people keep saying this. DirecTV's customer service Dept. is NOT overseas!!!!

erict · 01-13-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikeologist

DirecTV's customer service dept. is not located overseas. I dont understand why people keep saying this. DirecTV's customer service Dept. is NOT overseas!!!!

Re-read the quote you highlighted, especially the second sentence. I never said D** cs was overseas. it's nice to know that keep there cs in the states.

DaleSC · 01-13-2008, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcbeevee

I've been calling Directv for over 8 years, and I've never talked to a CSR who "could not speak English".

let me define my statement......good english speaking reps.......... ones that DO NOT have a heavy foreign accent or speak with broken sentences. sorry for the mis-conception.

stonedog23 · 01-13-2008, 10:53 AM

Well I've been with Directv since 99 and have never, ever gotten a rep whose first language wasn't English. So I still don't know what some of you are talking about.

Now Netgear, Lexmark... I won't go there today!

WolfpackRon · 01-14-2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikeologist

DirecTV's customer service dept. is not located overseas. I dont understand why people keep saying this. DirecTV's customer service Dept. is NOT overseas!!!!

Sorry to have to inform you that i talked with a customer service person located in the Phillipines this morning. I also spoke with a CS person in Idaho who said Directv had reps in Manila. I don't know where the "Department" is located. I have encountered CS persons with "a heavy accent" that were very hard to understand and I did not ask where they were located. However, I am not upset about location or accent. I am worried about a CS telling me one thing and it not being true or it is changed later. Offering $20 off a $69.99 plan and not honoring it later. Or offering a $10/month discount to offset $100 off an HD DVR and having someone tell me later that Directv does not do that. Not sure if this in intentional or not, but it does not make a very happy customer. WolfpackRon.

kharv · 01-14-2008, 08:46 PM

I was able to talk whom I spoke to down to $99 for the receiver.

So far everything is going well.

01-12-2008, 05:27 PM	#1
DaleSC HD in SC Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lady's Island. SC Posts: 9	Direct TV Retention Dept Gets A+ Just called Direct Tv to get pricing on upgrading my daughters system to HD-DVR. I did get a good english speaking rep. I inquired about the upgrade to HD-DVR. She advised me that the best she could do was $199.00 for the HD- DVR and would ungrade the dish to a 5 LNB dish (free). I ask if she could do any better on the price, as Dish Network had a better deal than that. She told me that she already gave me $100.00 off as the HD-DVR is $299.00 (note that my contract with Direct Tv does not expire till Jan 2009. I also advised her that I was ready to cancel and pay the early termination fees. She ask if I could hold for a minute so she could transfer me to the Customer Retention Dept. I got another English speaking rep. (lucky me) I explained to her about Dish Network had a better deal than what I was just offered and that I was ready to cancel my sub with them and pay the early termination fees. She asked me if I would be happy with a free HD-DVR, 1 year of HD programming (free), a 5 LNB dish installed (free), and 3 months of HBO/Cin (free), if I would stay with them. Of coarse there is a 2 year contract, which I have NO problem with. Had no intentions of leaving anyway. So, they will go out of their way to keep you as customer, just got to get the right people to talk to.

01-12-2008, 08:01 PM	#3
mcbeevee 97% Complete Join Date: May 2007 Location: Big Orange Country, TN Posts: 1,925	I've been calling Directv for over 8 years, and I've never talked to a CSR who "could not speak English". __________________ There are no TV's too big...only rooms too small!

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01-12-2008, 07:34 PM	#2
erict High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mich Posts: 919	Good job. I am getting ready to upgrade to hd and I will be talking to the retention dept as well. I know those satellites aren’t cheap to throw up there. If I switch to dish, no cost. If I go with cable no cost as well. I still don’t believe in paying for the equipment if you want me as a customer. By the way my contract is up next month. I like d*** and would prefer to stay with them but there are other options out there and will let it be known to them.

01-12-2008, 08:15 PM	#4
erict High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mich Posts: 919	I think we all cringe when we have to call cs for any company knowing the the call is going overseas. Its nice that some companies keep there cs in the states were it belongs.

01-12-2008, 08:21 PM	#5
mostlyconfused How can anyone watch standard def? Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 19	You're lucky! I tried to upgrade at the first of the year with Direct and they would do absolutely nothing! The retention department said they had no deals to offer me other than the standard upgrade, so I said I'm sorry I will be calling you back to cancel once we get Dish installed. I was a customer for 11 years! Now we are with Dish and when I did call back to cancel, the rep I talked to said she was sure sorry that she didn't get to talk to me before we switched over. Well they had their chance. Not much else I could do about it. How can you not take 'free' over 'pay'? We're pleased with our new service.

01-12-2008, 09:10 PM	#6
erict High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mich Posts: 919	When I call and the retention department doesnt give me a decent deal I will hang up and keep calling back until I receive a good deal. For me it's the equipment cost and installation that will make the deal. If they throw in some free programing that would make it sweeter. But like I said before we as customers should not be paying upfront for equipment that we lease. Cable companies don't do this and they have a larger infrastructure to maintain. My 2 vents I mean cents.

01-12-2008, 10:41 PM	#7
Peterlech What is HD? Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3	When I called, the Retention Dept cut the DVR price from $299 to $199. Wouldn't go any lower. Now I see they dropped the DVR price to $169-$199 anyway. Too late, I signed up for U-verse. Besides no contract and a free DVR, it is $ 4.00 cheaper per month, and my non-local channels will no longer be on eastern time.

01-12-2008, 11:14 PM	#8
roscoe93 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: NY Posts: 140	When I called last summer I asked about the HD service and a HD-DVR along with a HD receiver to replace the old one I had. Was charged the shipping charges of forty something dollars and a week later got a new dish , pole mount and was told to keep all the other equipment. He left the old dish on the roof along with the cabling which will come in handy if something happens to the new dish. No threats or begging and the bill is deducted automatically from my checking acct. each month. Every company should be as good.

01-13-2008, 08:31 AM	#9
erict High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mich Posts: 919	When you own or work for a smaller company we all know that our current customer base is very important to the foundation of our company, With that said, with big corporations we don't feel that way when it comes to customer service. I feel sometimes that we have to jump threw to many hoops and resort to different mesures just to get something. The nine years I have been with them I have never seen a deal in the mail for currant customers. Only for new which we all want for our company's. As a customer I'm not asking for the whole ball and wax just a good deal which I think we deserve too.

01-13-2008, 10:53 AM	#13
stonedog23 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 801	Well I've been with Directv since 99 and have never, ever gotten a rep whose first language wasn't English. So I still don't know what some of you are talking about. Now Netgear, Lexmark... I won't go there today!

01-14-2008, 08:46 PM	#15
kharv What is HD? Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 2	I was able to talk whom I spoke to down to $99 for the receiver. So far everything is going well.