Watch Directv on multiple TVs.......

Yep, I understand your frustration so please don't confuse anything I have written thus far as trying to minimize the results of bad policies. I could likely drop DirecTV today and sign up for Dish for 1/2 what I am paying now. I even have a Dish Trav'ler that I am not using so the actual cost would be very low. I just simply don't want to have to relearn everything! and I know that Dish policies are just about as stupid as the DirecTV polices with the added issue of not being able to get DNS.
Why does this all need to be so messed up?

I had two very old Hughes SD Receivers, one HD receiver and one HDR receiver. I probably didnt have to pay old Hughes SD usage fee. I called to replace one SD for an HD receiver and they told me this fantastic deal on a Genie so I took it for only 50 installation. They said they would change out the old SD receivers at no charge because they could not be used with the Genie. So I was told my bill would only be $3 more than it was then. And my bill remained the same. It may be that someone noticed that my bill wasnt adjusted for the charge for HD receivers a year later and what the original reps no charge to me was thrown out the window. So with no notice they just raised my bill. Cant say I am happy about it but what can I do, Dont have anything in writing what the rep originally told me as it would do any good to begin with. O well on to life's next problem.

Chopperbill,
There had always been an additional charge for more than one receiver no matter what they called it. If you were not paying this than, as I said earlier, you were just lucky.
There really is NOT a multiple TV charge, only a multiple receiver charge, but they have chosen some stupid working for the charge. Sorry you now have to pay the same as the rest of us but just consider how much money you have saved in the past due to their accounting errors. You can buy a lot of beer for the $72/year you have been saving.

I finally got fed up with Direct TV earlier this year and told them to cancel my service. Their pricing, billing and BS charges forced my hand. After talking it over with DW we decided that most of what we watch is broadcast TV and that I would get an outside antenna and try that. I bought a $45 antenna and mounted it on the post the dish is on and got 34 channels of broadcast TV. Bought a Channel Master DVR Plus and now I can record 2 programs at once and it costs us NOTHING per month. Just saved $100 a month and more than recouped my investment in the hardware in the first 3 months.

My next project will be to fire HughesNet. I can't tell you just how crappy their Internet service is.

Steve

Bill.Satellite wrote:

DIRECTV Equipment Services
2. Watch DIRECTV on Multiple TVs 6.00 (2 TVs at $6; Save $6 off 1st TV)
3. Advanced Receiver Service - HD 10.00
4. Advanced Receiver Service - DVR 10.00
5. DIRECTV Equipment Value Plan 6.00
2 Receivers
6. DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service 3.00

We are both saying the same thing and seeing the same charges, it appears DTV just changed the wording. There is a $6 charge for multiple TV's (receivers) It shows 2 TV's at $6 ($12) Save $6 off 1st TV (receiver) for a total of $6.
Nothing new or different here other than some unusual wording. I added a couple of brackets to the above to make it clearer.

OK, so now you agree there is a "multiple TV charge" on the bill. However, that was NEVER on any prior bills but all the other charges were so that was new and different to me. Wether It is right or wrong my bill is now $6 higher then it ever was. Like you said I might have been lucky but customer service was clueless and never heard of "multiple TV" charges either. Kind of funny he really couldn't explain it but refused to do anything about it.

DIRECTV Equipment Services
2. Watch DIRECTV on Multiple TVs 6.00 (2 TVs at $6; Save $6 off 1st TV)
3. Advanced Receiver Service - HD 10.00
4. Advanced Receiver Service - DVR 10.00
5. DIRECTV Equipment Value Plan 6.00
2 Receivers
6. DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service 3.00

We are both saying the same thing and seeing the same charges, it appears DTV just changed the wording. There is a $6 charge for multiple TV's (receivers) It shows 2 TV's at $6 ($12) Save $6 off 1st TV (receiver) for a total of $6.
Nothing new or different here other than some unusual wording. I added a couple of brackets to the above to make it clearer.

az99 wrote:
DirecTv is one of the most deceitful and dishonest companies I have ever dealt with.

They purposely make your bill so confusing that the average person can't understand it and just pays. They force you to auto pay to get supposed discounts and know that the average customer then has less chance of looking at the bill. They send the bill after it has been taken out of your CC.

Their CS reps and sales reps will flat out lie to you to get you off the phone.

All to watch commercials.

It is no wonder so many people are dropping them and going to OTA and Netflix. The OTA HD DVR market seems to really be coming to life.

I just took myself of auto pay. One time about 3 -4 years back they had a deal for new customers that they could get free HD for life. Called and asked why us long tome customers couldn't get that deal. Gave it to me then a year later the took off free HD for life. Called and the said they don't do that any more but but I could call and they would put it back on. Free HD for life and you have to call back to get it back??. Any way I have to call every few months to get it back. If you miss calling they won't give you credit for the month you were billed. Just like you said the take auto pay a out a couple of days before you get your bill. Pretty sneaky.

DirecTv is one of the most deceitful and dishonest companies I have ever dealt with.

They purposely make your bill so confusing that the average person can't understand it and just pays. They force you to auto pay to get supposed discounts and know that the average customer then has less chance of looking at the bill. They send the bill after it has been taken out of your CC.

Their CS reps and sales reps will flat out lie to you to get you off the phone.

All to watch commercials.

It is no wonder so many people are dropping them and going to OTA and Netflix. The OTA HD DVR market seems to really be coming to life.

Big Katuna wrote:
Bill.Satellites post is spot on.

I also would add I live in Florida and maybe others never lose their signal but during the rainy season, we lose our signal almost daily, SD or otherwise.

I agree Genie shouldn't matter as its the same between the dish and initial rcvr as the non-Genie. The Genie multi box part is wifi; non sat related.

I WOULD question your alignment but you can check that yourself thru the sat signal strength screen.

This is quite a coincidence. A friend of mine came by this evening and I mentioned mine quitting during a rain storm. Said his genie and client lost signal but the regular receivers they converted did not. I have two converted receivers I will check the next rain storm as I seldom watch them and aren't sure if they also quit. I know folks say it's not the genie just HD receivers in general. I'm not crazy but I never had the problem before the genie.
When the third tech came out he adjusted the dish and the signal was better then it had been since the first install. In the upper 90,s.

Bill.Satellite wrote:

ChopperBill wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Same thing here. 1 receiver is free, all other receivers are $6/month. That's 1 Genie free plus $6/month for each additional receiver or client. Been that way "forever". Sounds like you have just been lucky.
As to losing the signal, it's not the Genie, it's the HD (by the way, that also added $10/month to your bill). The HD signal on KA band is much more susceptible to rain fade than the SD channels on the KU band. When you lose the HD in the rain, change over to the same channel in SD and it will likely be just fine.
So the Genie add-on fees are $10/month for the HD service, $6 for each additional device, $3/month for the Whole Home service and $10/month for the DVR service (I think it's $10). So, even if you already had HD service you would be looking at $19/month more if you added the DVR + Whole Home + another receiver.

First of all I have always had an extra charge for additional receivers, no problem with that. I now had in addition a charge "for watching Directv on multiple TV's" $6. Lucky? For almost 20 years? Must be as it just started showing up. Second, have had HD for almost 6 years. NEVER had an outage unless snow collected on the dish. Service rep said same to him and said Genie was more susceptible to signal loss, his words not mine, however he put in new LNB, power inserter, pulled some new cables and checked alignment on the dish. Lost signal at least 10 time this year. Third, was told a year ago that my $78 bill would go up $3, total $81' They changed out two SD receivers of my four receivers for HD receivers no charge making all my receivers HD. Only other charged was $50 for the install. Did not work for a day and had to come and pull a couple of cables. Then the lost signals came with storms. Third guy was described above. My bill was up about $10 more, was explained a customer service rep made a mistake when they quoted me the first time. Last bill I lost a discount and got it back with a call. But now this bill has the extra $6 charge making my bill $97 for the same HD TV only with a Genie. Everyone confused now? It doesn't add up. Guess I was "lucky" again?
Another problem, we both like the Directv and hate to lose it. So I guess we let them keep sticking it in our butt and consider ourselves "lucky"?
On edit. I have always had the $10 charge on my bill for HD even before the Genie.
More edit. I also had an HDR before the Genie and was paying that fee, again I have no problem with that charge.

First, there is simply no such thing as "multiple TV's" charge. You can have 1 receiver connected to 100 TV's and you will not pay any more than if that 1 receiver was connected to 1 TV.
If you have an old bill and a new bill, please let us know where the additional charges come from. In the past you would not have had the Whole House option so we know about the extra $3/month but I am confused about what you had, what you now have and where you say the extra charges are coming from. It all sounds correct to me so I appear to still be missing something. Break it down for us and show the break down from a previous bill and the break down from you current bill. Maybe we can get you some better information.
Hardware issues seem to be speculative as my Genie has been great but then I have not seen a lot of rain here in the Western US. When I have lost HD I changed to SD and the programming was usually available. I don't work for DirecTV or even care if folks do or do not have good service with the service. If you only came to vent and had no interest in feedback I would have preferred you to have posted that initially. Otherwise, folks try to understand what you might be experiencing and try to offer help. I apologize for having attempted to do so.

Here is a copy paste from my bill. First line. " multiple TVs" charge. My be no such thing but this is the first time it showed up in all past billing. There has always been the other charges and only those charges. Whole home DVR service is the only new charge that showed up with the Genie a year ago.Customer service never gave an explanation why it was there but he said it was the same as equipment value plan and it seems no one else has seen it. Feed back is welcome but I explained the charge from the beginning. Not venting but telling how it is and was told there was no such charge.
DIRECTV Equipment Services
2. Watch DIRECTV on Multiple TVs 6.00
2 TVs at $6; Save $6 off 1st TV
3. Advanced Receiver Service - HD 10.00
4. Advanced Receiver Service - DVR 10.00
5. DIRECTV Equipment Value Plan 6.00
2 Receivers
6. DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service 3.00