Day 1: Monday, March 11
I return home from work around 5:30 and get an error saying that I have not received Guide info in the last 7 hours, following this I get the all-too-familiar "Searching for signal" message. So the signal must have been lost around 10 or 11 in the morning.
Call #1 to DirecTV Customer Service is placed. After jumping through the automated hoops, I speak with a representative without much of a wait. The rep runs me through the typical beats (what error are you receiving, try resetting your box, unplug & plugin, etc.) No dice, someone needs to come look at my dish. I am given a phone # to call and told this company handles issues like mine. I verify the phone number before hanging up and feel confident that I am on my way to a solution.
Call #2 to Service Force Communications (SFC). After a ring or two, I get the always terrifying fem-bot telling me "your call cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and try again". Ok, I probably just dialed wrong. Nope. I call again, same response.
Call #3 to DirecTV, automated prompts, minimal wait, and I'm talking to a human. I tell them what happened, they give me a new number to call... simple enough.
Call #4 to Multiband. I speak with a human right away who politely tells me they no longer service my location. This is followed by me receiving a new phone number.
Call #5 to this new number (turns out to be SFC again). No answer and an automated voice mail message that tells me the mail box is full. Dead end.
Call #6 to DirecTV, auto-prompts, moderate wait, and human. I tell the lady what has happened and she offers a river of sympathy, but little else. I am told nothing can be done by DTV and there are no other phone numbers for me to try. I should keep trying the last number I received and reach out to my homeowners association (it is worth noting that I live in a townhouse and each unit with DirecTV has their own dish, rather than using a shared dish for the entire building... this will come into play later).
Email #1 to my homeowners association. I email asking if there is any affiliation with DirecTV and if any help can be offered.
At this point, it's probably needless to say that my spirit is beaten down. I turn in for a full night of sleep ready to handle whatever comes next (I was NOT ready for what this has turned in to)
Day 2: Tuesday, March 12
I get a response from my association essentially saying they can't help and that I need to contact DirecTV. Hi square 1, so nice to see you again. With my phone call patience still drained from the previous night, I opt for an email.
Email #2 sent to DirecTV explains what I have been through thus far and asks for help. I receive 2 email responses from DirecTV, the 2nd of which tells me "You should be contacted very soon by the System Operator to resolve your technical issue". Once this happens I'm feeling a little better... DirecTV is on the case and seemingly willing to help. If you are curious enough, you can read this email exchange here.
Call #7 to SFC. Keep in mind this does not account for the numerous calls I placed to SFC that went unanswered and led to the automated message telling me their mail box is full. I actually get a human to answer. The guy seems mildly disinterested and tells me their scheduling department is not currently there (I guess the whole department was at lunch, or perhaps doesn't even exist). I tell him what is going on, he says I likely don't even need to be home for the repair, which is good news for me. He takes my contact info and tells me I will be contacted by someone to set up an appointment. Perfect, we finally have a resolution in place and my satellite should be functioning again. Let's see what Lee Corso thinks. Oh...
Ok, that brings day 2 to a close. And if it weren't for my pessimistic friend Lee, I'd be feeling pretty encouraged. (I should also note that I filled out a survey from DirecTV on this day for one of the 3 calls I placed on Monday... no gold stars were awarded).
Day 3: Wednesday, March 13
Call #8 to DirecTV. Why would I be calling DirecTV again you ask? Well I received a voicemail from them asking about the survey I completed the previous day. Plus they gave me a phone number and a pin# which means I'll probably be talking to a human pretty quickly. I call and the person on the other end seems a bit confused as to why I'm calling (then why did you leave a callback number?!?). We go in circles about the issues I'm having with DirecTV. We don't dive in to any of my personal issues even though the odds of getting help with those may have been slightly higher. He eventually transfers me over to the most energetic man I think I have ever spoken with in my life. Mr. Sunshine warmly greets me and asks what can be done to help. I tell him my story thus far and he expresses great sympathy. This is followed by him saying they do not have the ability to help as my townhouse is listed as an MDU (multi-dwelling unit). I find this odd since all units in my complex with DirecTV have their own dish, rather than sharing one. Then I am told I need to talk to my association about getting it fixed and possibly changing our MDU status. We end our call... if there was a picture of my spirit right now it would look like this.
Email #3 The Return of the Association. I email my association and wait for a response
Day 4: Thursday, March 14
Since nobody has contacted me yet, I feel the need to bother people. I start with another email to DirecTV
Email #4 to DirecTV. I tell them an abridged version of my journey. Their response says, "A specialist will respond as soon as an agent is available." As of this writing I have yet to receive a call... they must be REALLY busy. Full email transcripts located here.
Time to try a new venue... maybe the power of social media will work!!
Tweet #1
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| The social outlet for my frustration |
This actually leads to a quick response and Twitter exchange as seen below. I think I have some cause for optimism right Al Borland? Ok, my name's not Tim, but point taken.
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| A prompt response?! Could we be making progress?? |
Well Thursday comes and goes with nobody from my association, DirecTV, SFC, or Multiband contacting me. Though I did get 2 new Twitter followers (DirecTV & DirecTV Service)... so I guess there is that.
Day 5: Friday, March 14
Email #5 is to my association and is a follow-up on the email from Wednesday that has yet to receive a response. After I send this, I am contacted by my association on the phone. Contrary to what I was told via email on Tuesday, they now are taking an active roll in this mess. I'm told we are listed as a multi-dwelling unit (MDU), though there is a level of surprise when I mention I have my own dish rather than a shared one (same for everyone else in these townhomes). This is very easy to spot if you look at any of our buildings which makes me wonder when the last time someone from the association was actually in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, my association is trying to reach out to SFC and DTV to get an appointment set up for me as well as getting the MDU status removed.
Calls #9, 10 & 11 to Service Force are placed Friday afternoon. Calls 9 & 10 are made from my cell phone. Each time, the phone is picked up after one ring then I'm immediately hung up on. Call #11 is made from my office phone... this is answered quickly by a person. I begin telling him my need for an appointment and he quickly asks if this is [name of my employer]. I say no, but that I am calling from my work phone. He mentions how he had seen calls from our office all week and even called our office manager trying to find out if there was a problem. Apparently they are responsive to corporate clients, but could give two shits about personal residences. He then tells me that they don't handle repairs for my residence and that Multiband does (yes, the Multiband that told me they don't handle my residence, SFC does). My head explodes. After I gather myself, I give him my name, address, and phone # which I am assured will be passed along to Multiband. It may surprise you, but I'm a bit skeptical at this point.
Email #6 is to my association with a recap of call #11. Full emails 5&6 here.
So I'm getting bounced around between a number of companies who don't want to help me. Once my association realized they played a part in all of this they have been somewhat helpful and responsive. While Multiband or SFC might be responsible for the work, it seems like Service Force is the largest fly in the ointment at this point. The inability to speak with someone, schedule an appointment, or get a response out of them have been maddening.
And let's not forget DirecTV who has yet to follow through on any of their email or Twitter promises and shown an overall level of incompetence and indifference in this situation. Unless they make me an amazing offer, I will be counting the days until my 2-year agreement ends so I never have to deal with them again. Ironically, up until this disaster of a week I was pretty pleased with the product. Oh, and when I say an amazing offer... I mean like a year+ of free service with all the bells and whistles: DVR updgrades, premium channels, sports packages, PPV movies/events, porn, anything and everything that they sell. Something tells me this will not be happening however, and we'll just be happy to have each other out of our lives.
Day 6: Saturday, March 16
This how I "watched" the Red Wings game. From what I've heard both Datsyuk and Abdelkader were prominently involved in the outcome, so maybe it played out just like I imagined. I know in the game I watched it felt like they were out on the ice the entire time.
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| Go Wings!? |
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