Forum Discussion

2oldman's avatar
2oldman
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2019

DTV nightmare.. Timmac around?

Timmac may be absolutely right. Directv (now ATT) is a nightmare to deal with. No wonder they're losing customers.

The whole debacle started when my GF misplaced one of my HD receivers. 6 months ago, I deactivated it. Something told me I shouldn't have done that.

I got it back today, so I began what I thought would be the easy task of getting it reactivated. First, the My Equipment page on the old Directv website is
gone. You get redirected to ATT, which is a nightmare to find anything. I finally found the activation page, it just says "You're good to go and everything is fine." I can't see my old receiver, so I can't manage it.

So, as directed by the webpage, I got on Chat. I gave the guy the receiver and card number. He couldn't find that on my account. He went off to do something, so I asked him how long this would take. He said 1-2 hours. What?? But then he said he could do it now. Then he said someone would be calling me about "packages." I told him I just wanted what I already had on my account. Then he said he was going to hand me off to his floor supervisor. Then the supervisor told me I would be getting a phone call to verify. A phone call?? What century is this?

I get a call. It's from somewhere in India, I guess, because I can barely understand the man. He says someone ELSE is going to call me.

A nice lady from Oklahoma calls me. Someone I can easily understand. We trade niceties but it gets ugly real fast. I gave her my phone number, and after a few minutes she comes back confused. "Has there been another phone number on this account?" No, not for the last 15 years. "Have you moved?" she asked. "Yes, I said", last year. Well, that was a mistake. She starts talking about a CA address (my last service address) and how I was now going to have to have 2 accounts because ( I guess) I told her I was in New Mexico. I don't know if she knows the difference between a service address and a billing address. I didn't tell her I lived here, I just said I "was" here. Now I'm getting kinda pissed. "What difference does it make? You don't know where I am anyway!!" "Well sir, we have to have an address so our service people.. blah blah.... " Right, like I would ever call you for service. She understands my frustration but can't do anything about it.

In exasperation I said "Look, how about if I just have 2 receivers in this house.. does that work?". Well, apparently you can't just change your story, so she said she was going to have someone else call me.

I'm not doing this any more. I'm not answering any more calls from Directv. I'm not changing anything. The right hand doesn't talk to the left hand. They ask me questions and then ask the same ones again. They can't find my equipment. They waste your time with inept employees. I'll just get along with the one receiver. My account was just fine until I deactivated that receiver. Now I have to pray they leave the working one alone.