DirecTV move installation delayed

[JRAllas]

8/24/06 - Contacted DirecTV to schedule my move. I move into my new house on 9/8/06 and want a 9/11/06 installation date. A work order was opened for me. I was told they were having problems with their computers and I would receive a call within 72 hours to schedule an installation date.

8/29/06 - I called DirecTV back because no one had called me, yet. I was told the work order didn't go through but now a local installer would be calling me to schedule the installation.

9/2/06 - Still haven't heard from anyone. I called DirecTV again and while waiting for them to pull up my work order I was disconnected. I called back and got a different person. She had to open a new work order because something was wrong with the existing work order. I finally got an installation date. I have to wait until 9/18/06. I have to go a full week without satellite service because DirecTV screwed up. I told her that it was their fault and she said she was sorry but nothing could be done. What would you do?

[serenstarlight]

You can have them escalate to the local install office to fill your name in if there's a sooner install date. Also they usually will give you a missed installation credit.. about $20. It's not much but at least it's some compensation.

[JRAllas]

Since 9/4 I've received several phone calls from DirecTV telling me that my installation is NOT scheduled. Each time I told them to check again because a new work order was opened and each time they said, "Oh, you are scheduled for the 18th.". I made sure they actually had me scheduled and they said I was, so now I'm fully expecting no one to show up tomorrow, Monday the 18th.

The home I just moved into has always had cable, so this will be a full install with dual cable drops at four locations in the home. It ought to be interesting to see how long the installer takes, and although the install is scheduled for 8a-12p, I don't expect him to show until at least 1pm.

On an unrelated side-note, my new place, although only 1.2 miles away from my old place, can not get DSL for broadband Internet access. So, I had to contact Comcast. This was something I dreaded because I dumped Comcast about 3 yrs ago due to poor service, etc. They showed up at 11:45am and were here until about 5pm because the cable from the pole was bad and the filter trap at the pole turned out to be bad. Now I have a cable laying on the ground along the side of my property. I've heard several horror stories. I wonder how long it will take for someone to bury it...

[HomieG]

Now I have a cable laying on the ground along the side of my property. I've heard several horror stories. I wonder how long it will take for someone to bury it...

It took them 2+ months to bury mine. Our town, per the ordinance, gives them 7-10 days. Even if those are business days, they were way over. So I asked the town to enforce the ordinance, which says Comcast would cited and then fined on a per-day basis. The enforcement officer would not cite them becuase he said the judge would not fine them. What good is the law if they won't enforce it? I wonder how much money on the side Comcast was paying to the judge and the enforcement officer?

[ontheridge]

Several years ago (well, actually almost 7), we got Comcast for broadband. House had never had cable since we got DirecTV when we moved in. The cable laid on the grass almost a year, and had just about disappeared into the turf when they showed up with a trencher to bury it. My wife chased them away, because our house was going on the market the next day, and we didn't want a new trench to open up any questions. For all I know, it may still be that way.

[Dkerr24]

I didn't want to wait on a local installer to put up mine, so I installed my own dish. Not really that hard if you know how to point a dish.

[Rainy Dave]

I have a "move" scheduled for Oct 13th. I'm hoping it goes off as planned.

Just in case, where is a good place to pick up a new dish? We already told the buyers of our house that we'd be leaving our dish here.

[JRAllas]

The home I just moved into has always had cable, so this will be a full install with dual cable drops at four locations in the home. It ought to be interesting to see how long the installer takes, and although the install is scheduled for 8a-12p, I don't expect him to show until at least 1pm.
The installer showed at 11:30am. He did a very good job with the install, mounted the dish and switcher where its not seen from the street and the signal is pretty strong, about 90 to 92. He actually did good work and was very careful not to do any damage when drilling for the drops. Of course, I was watching everything he did. He left at 4:00pm, so that's 4 1/2 hrs to do the entire install from scratch.

Overall, the installer did a great job, but DirecTV dropped the ball with scheduling.

[JRAllas]

On an unrelated side-note, my new place, although only 1.2 miles away from my old place, can not get DSL for broadband Internet access. So, I had to contact Comcast. This was something I dreaded because I dumped Comcast about 3 yrs ago due to poor service, etc. They showed up at 11:45am and were here until about 5pm because the cable from the pole was bad and the filter trap at the pole turned out to be bad. Now I have a cable laying on the ground along the side of my property. I've heard several horror stories. I wonder how long it will take for someone to bury it...

Holy crap. on 9/19 a guy came out and marked the ground so the cable could be buried. On 9/20 another guy came out and buried the cable. Is Comcast trying to impress me? Its kind of hard to be impressed when my internet connection intermittenly drops out. We'll see if it improves...