[pallen4215]

Ok, Directv has seriously pissed me off. Ordered a new 6 room system and they came out today to install it. My wife was home with them. She said that when they first got there, they wanted to drill through the walls between rooms instead of going under the house. They said there were dragonflies under the house. I called why they were there and they couldn’t get the DVR’s to record and watch live TV at the same time. I asked them if they had both tuners hooked up and they didn’t. I told my wife they had to have two cables to each of the DVRs. They said they only had a 6 port multiswitch (which they drilled a hole in the floor right behind my freezer at the back door). I told them they needed to get a 8 port, and if they had to order it, I could hook it up. Well, they must had give them reason to think I was going to also run the cable, because they left me enough cable, with ends, almost the entire length of the house. So I’ve got two DVR’s that aren’t working on both tuners, my cable no longer works (oh, forgot to mentrion they used all my existing cable wire instead of running new wire), and have a hell of a mess under my house.

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[jca]

Did you call DirecTV and/or the local installation company to complain and ask them to resolve the problems?

 

[pallen4215]

Called them, took 15 minutes to finally talk to someone, then talked and got put on hold, talked more, on hold again, then finally got cut off. Hoping she's going to call me back in a few minutes before I call again.

 

[CrashHD]

I miss the days when you could get a self-install kit in lieu of professional installation (this was back before the installations were free, though). I saved enough money to buy a nice rg6 end crimper and a box of ends, all my wiring was done nicely, and neatly to my satisfaction, and I saved money on the deal.

Sorry to hear about your ****** install...that sucks. I doubt direcTV cares, but I'd sure make certain they know about that installers crappy work.

 

[pallen4215]

The first lady I talked to sounded genuinely sorry for my trouble, and we were on the phone for almost an hour (including holding once we started talking), but the second lady acted like it wasn't a big deal. She couldn't tell me if the call was already in, but said it should be since she couldn't schedule another call.

 

[newsposter]

you make me wanna buy my own stuff and install...sucks they killed your cable...disgraceful

 

[rlj5242]

I miss the days when you could get a self-install kit in lieu of professional installation (this was back before the installations were free, though).

Run all of the wiring yourself. The installer will connect the switch, put the F connectors on (if you don't already do it), install the dish and connect the receivers. They get paid a set price for each install. This more complicated install was a money loser for them. No wonder than botched it. Most people won't complain because they haven't researched. Now the install company will lose even more money because they have to come and fix it.

In summary - If you want something done right, then do it yourself. Or at least as much of the work as the rules allow.

-Robert

 

[morganjeeper]

Lets see the first time I got DirecTV the installers did not bring a multiswitch at all. I called DirecTV and complained. (I had ordered my first DirecTivo Phillips DSR704and three receivers) Since the appointment had to be rescheduled the knocked off $50 from my next bill. (The new DirecTivo I was getting was costing me $100 if I remember correctly). The next time the installers showed up the didn't have the DirecTivo, I called and complained and received another $50 off. So I was pissed and happy at the same time, but I still did NOT have my Tivo service.

Next time I moved I paid for them to come out and install (Before they offered the free moving package). I also ordered my Second DirecTivo at this time. So now I had Two D Tivo's and three Regular receivers. Guess what they did NOT have a big enough Multiswitch again. Since I was adding another D Tivo I needed more than the 4x6 switch, I had confirmed with DirecTV when placing the order about the Multiswitch due to my first headache with installers. I had to wait until the next day for them to come back out with a larger multiswitch.

My third attempt I was a LITTLE smarter. I set up the Movers Connection with DirecTV again. BUT this time I installed ALL of my own RG6 cables (I had a friend who worked for a cable company and he had a NEW spool of RG6 and the waterproof connectors). I ran them down from where I wanted the Dishes installed to where I wanted the 2 multiswitches installed in a Electrical panel type box. I also ran cables to every room in my two story house, out all the wires from underneath and into the walls with a plastic electrical box for better looks. So ALL I left up to the installers was to mount the two oval dishes and the cables to the multiswitches. I know I made THEIR job too easy but I wanted a perfect job on the wiring. The FUNNY part was that when they left, they forgot to take their Brand New role of RG6 cable. So now I have about 950 feet of RG6 cable for future cabling..

My system now is 5 DirecTivo's on my account and 1 Regular receiver, and 1 DirecTivo not on my account. The 5 DirecTivos are 2 Phillips DSR704s, 2 Hughes SD-DVR40's, and 1 Hughes HDVR2. I also have another Hughes SD-DVR40 that I am unable to put on my DirecTV account due to the former owner owing $400 on it. I got screwed in a Ebay deal and got stuck with a useless box until I hacked it just for MRV storage. All my DirecTivos have been InstantCaked 6.2a, PTVnet, Superpatch-62a. We use MRV on a daily basis, so we can record up to 10 different channels at any given time. They all have 200GB or 250GB hard drives in them now..I WILL NOT BE UPGRADING TO 6.3E ANYTIME SOON.

 

[newsposter]

Run all of the wiring yourself.

what a great idea, dont know why i didnt think of it before now. I see on monoprice the length of wire i need is 10-15 bucks and i'm sure the guy doesnt wanna crawl under my house so if it was prewired, maybe he 'would' find a LOS for me (wont install with 119 blocked)

 

[sven_kirk]

Sorry to hear about the install. I had a bad one also a while back. Mainly due to the installer misquoting a price on the install (going from free to $250).

The main problem that most people are seeing, is that they use subcontractors to do ALL of the installs. And most of them, really don't get paid all that well either. And yet have high install quotas to fill.

DTV does care. You just have to whine and moan the right way to get anything done. I got 3 free DirectTivos and a nice credit to my bill.

 

[pallen4215]

Just to update everyone.

Directv finally got someone out there Saturday at 4pm. He plainly told my mother-in-law the other guys did a ****** job. First thing he did was pull out all the old wiring. He ran all new cables, all new ends to every room. He stayed over 3 hours, but when he left, everything was working, all the cables were under the house, and the two DVR's now can record two shows at once.

Thanks Directv.