Hit delete or if you're as disappointed with customer service as I am, read
on....

Sit down for a long one... I had to type this all out before I forgot, maybe
it will make somebody out there feel like they are not the only one that
things like this happen to.

I've got a new "Worst Company in the World" award to give out. The honors
go to DirecTV and is shared with their Wisconsin installation subcontractor.

A month ago my wife Tami called DirecTV to ask them what we had to do to
cancel our subscription and that we were switching to our local telephone
provider for high speed DSL type television service.

Well, DTV did everything but promise us their first born if we would sign up
for a year. Upgrade to a higher channel package, 2 receivers, one with a
recorder, free local network channels.. blah blah blah.... this was about
Sept 25th... Scheduled free install, Oct 2.

Sept 28th... installer calls reschedules for Oct 10

Oct 10... installer comes, has wrong work order, only shows 1 receiver, no
recorder, no local channels, Tami pulls up the order on the Dtv website, it
shows 2 receivers w/ 1 recorder, no local channels, guy installs 2 receivers
1 recorder, no local channels, and does the worst job of installing anything
that I've ever seen... remember, our original dish was already mounted, all
he had to do was intall a multi switch and hook up some coax that I had
already neatly ran out of the basement and to the pole... the phone calls to
Dtv start....they put us on hold many many times... they cut us off many
many times.... we re call many many times..... guy can't come back until Oct
23... but we'll give you 6 months of free Showtime channels (nothing EVER on
Showtime... junk movies nobody's ever heard of) Ok, make SURE installer
calls Tami at work before coming so she can let him in house... Ok, Ok.

Oct 23... 11:20am Tami wonders why nobody has called her at work so she
drives home just to check... finds note on the door... Sorry we missed you,
please call to reschedule, time left 11:10am. She quickly calls DTV, gets
put on hold several times, cut off several times but finally gets through at
12:05pm... PLEASE send the guy back, I'll wait for him! Nope, can't, he
called your work number 3 times and never got an answer and now he's 2 hours
away already. Huh? She works at a bank... that is open... where SHE
answers the phone, he called my house and left a message where he KNEW
nobody was home... and he left only 45 minutes ago! Please send him back!
Nope, you'll have to reschedule. I get home for lunch and she's ballistic.
Besides that a nest of at least 40-50 hornets has just let loose somewhere
in my ceiling and my living room is full of hornets! So I start calling...
Longer story short, I talk to 3 managers over a 2 hour period and finally
get $50 credit out of them but the guy will not come back, reschedule for
Sunday the 29th.... What? you install on Sunday? Why the hell didn't you
tell me that to begin with? We could of saved a lot of time and
frustration... I get no less than 100 "I'm very sorrys"... That always makes
my tv work. yep.

Oct 23... still..... I come home from work and Nick has a message from
Dtv... they are out of stock of the dish that I need to pull in the local
networks and will call back with a reschedule date...HUH? They had a dish
when they were here at 11:10am today, but now at 5pm they no longer have MY
dish? WTF?! Back on the phone.... This time I get a woman in Idaho... She
confirms that our local installer is out of inventory and attempt to call
another install office. She gets cut off. She also says that the Urgent
and Immediate have been taken off our install request. She'll put them back
on but still can't get anybody out until the 29th. I make her the same
offer that I just made to the 3 managers earlier today.... If you reimburse
me, I'll buy a dish and install it. Every one of the previous 3 managers
said No we don't do that. This woman says "Sure, we do that all the time,
I'll give you up to a $100 credit, just fax me the invoice." I pick my jaw
up off the floor and drive to town to find my brother who I know has an old
dish and LNB, just like I need. In the dark I start installing the dish and
attempt to point it at the other satellite.

The new receivers don't have a signal meter for the special 72.5 degree
satellite that our local channels are on... so it's a guessing game until I
pull the rest of my hair out.... Yesterday I get on the internet and find
some satellite forums and come up with an impromptu aiming method that I
tried last night and finally locked onto the other bird. A reboot and reset
of each receiver and everything works...

Now I'm waiting for the guy to come on Sunday, just so I can tell him to go
screw himself.

NAC: now I can get back to installing the interior and JPI in our Aztec. I
swear that if I couldn't fly I'd be on drugs after things like this.... I
thank God that a friend of mine offered me a ride in his C185 on amphib
floats the other day, we had a blast doing touch and goes on the lakes and
rivers. The trees along the Wisconsin River are simply beautiful.

Happy Wednesday!

Jim