Direct TV discount...

[/pine]

FWIW...My b.i.l. originally alerted me to 800-778-3397 to get a monthly (loyal customer) bill discount for a year and other free promotions...but when I called it was no longer in service and said to call their regular DTV contact #...so I did...

After dealing with a lame agent I finally got to talk to someone who had at least a few working brain cells and I mentioned the "loyal customer discount" and the 800# above...in a couple of minutes we are now paying $45 a month less to DTV for the next 12 months...My b.i.l. also got free HBO for 6 months...IMO if you're a DTV customer it's worth a call...going to save us $540 over the next year...!
BTW... I think the discount is based on years of service....Good Luck if you call...

 

[TheMan419]

I do this with dish network. The key is to tell the first person who answers the phone you are thinking about cancelling service. They connect you to a 電ifferent department? That person can usually cut the bill and throw in free hbo or some other premium feature for a few months.

I always look up what the deals are for new customers at the competition before I call. So I can throw in 努ell if I switch to comcast it would be $x/month?

 

[rekees4300]

Got this email from Directv a week ago. Another year, another price hike!

View attachment 532565

 

[TractorGuy]

FYI, they may not have told you but I'll bet you got a new 2 year contract out of the deal.

I used to have their service and my receiver died. I called and they said they would send me a free one if I paid shipping. I said I would do that but made it clear I would not agree to any other terms or price increase. They changed my plan and raised my rate any way. I called and argued with them 3 months in a row then canceled the service and returned the receiver. They tried to charge me a $280 "early disconnect fee" after being a customer for 7 years. Thank goodness I wasn't on auto pay so I never paid them. They tried to turn it over to a collection agency and I got one notice from them and sent them a certified letter letting them know I didn't owe and wouldn't pay. They kicked it back to DTV. I got one more notice from DTV then it stopped.

After that I inquired about getting service from the other company and they would only provide service with auto pay. I put up an antenna, got netflix, and never looked back.

 

[/pine]

FYI, they may not have told you but I'll bet you got a new 2 year contract out of the deal.....

Have never had any type of contract or service agreement...also own our receivers...

 

[TractorGuy]

Have never had any type of contract or service agreement...also own our receivers...

I would be willing to bet any discount offered was tied to a service agreement. They just didn't mention it when they signed you up. Try calling them up and ask if you would have a penalty for canceling service and see what they tell you.

 

[FarmWrench]

Rented the DVR from direct TV for years, but when it started to malfunction, they wanted $150 to consider doing anything with it all with a nasty attitude to my wife.

(I've wanted the thing gone for years. No amount of my effort could do what some nasty call center guy in Pakistan did.)

When I called to cancel, they offered a price reduction. Then they sent offers of better deals.

I called and asked to be removed from their mailing list, finding their business model discusting.

Latest offer to return is a year of premium programming, six room DVR for $19, second year of $24.99 and $300.

 

[/pine]

I would be willing to bet any discount offered was tied to a service agreement. They just didn't mention it when they signed you up. Try calling them up and ask if you would have a penalty for canceling service and see what they tell you.

I agreed to nothing but allowing them to view my account info...I've never had any type of service agreement or contract etc...
This discount is tied into how long a party has been using DTV services...for me 17 years is saving me $45/month for 12 months...

 

[TheMan419]

With Dish they have offered me a discount with no additional contract.... OR an even steeper discount if I signed a new 2 year deal. Honestly I think it is time to sign a new deal. Get new equipment thrown in. Was dealing with comcast to see if they were going to provide service out my way. Looks like that is not going to happen any time soon.

 

[TractorGuy]

I thought I had no type of service agreement either. Especially since I TOLD them I wouldn't agree to one. In the end they said ANY programming change automatically came with a new 18 month agreement. Oh and I also TOLD them I didn't want a programming change. They said MY program was no longer available so they HAD to change it with the new receiver. This was all after the fact and not divulged when they offered me a new receiver. In other words everything discussed on the phone with them meant NOTHING.

 

[/pine]

I thought I had no type of service agreement either. Especially since I TOLD them I wouldn't agree to one. In the end they said ANY programming change automatically came with a new 18 month agreement. Oh and I also TOLD them I didn't want a programming change. They said MY program was no longer available so they HAD to change it with the new receiver. In other words everything discussed on the phone with them meant NOTHING.

There is no signed agreement...they can hold a party to nothing without a binding agreement...and there is no binding agreement period...like I said I even own all the equipment...

Also for the last 6 or 7 years I have changed our programming twice a year and have never heard boo about any service agreement ever...

 

[kcflhrc]

One of the reasons I left DTV for Dish after 13 years. Direct TV sucks you in the first year and then bends you over the 2nd year. Dish contract and price lock is for 2 years. Of course they wanted me back after I left but didn't want to give me the time of day before my contract expired.

 

[tractorshopper]

Yes, I've had DTV for many moons. About once a year, whatever promotions I had go away, my bill skyrockets, then I have to call them and argue it out for a while, then get new promotions offered when I call to cancel. I always have Dish's incentives handy at that time as reference and consideration and the last 2 years I've called and talked to Dish to ask a few more questions seriously considering the switch. I've been doing this dance with discounts applied and expired for years now. I know people that change providers literally every time the discounts expire at one. I don't really want to re-learn channel numbers, etc, so haven't gone that far yet and am otherwise happy with the service.

Last Saturday I came within a gnat's behind of actually switching like I often threaten to do. Wife spoke to 2 reps and 2 managers and they could only offer to take off $10 per month when our bill just went up $60 due to previous promotions expiring. She was a bit harsh with them, but understandably so. There are so many other options these days that the hassle just isn't worth it anymore.

Anyway, after talking to Dish when my wife got off the phone with DTV, they said they could have new equipment installed that same day (which blew me away because it was already afternoon on a Saturday). I called DTV back to verify that I was going to cancel and the lady they transferred me to asked me why I wanted to cancel and I told her I didn't really want to, but they can't get my bill back to a non-absurd number so I was going to switch to Dish where it wasn't absurd. She immediately dropped my bill $60 bucks a month (back to my normal bill and same price as I was going to pay for Dish). I didn't have to drop any channels or rearrange my package either. Just straight deduction to last one year, no contract, and threw in a month of a movie channel for free, so I didn't switch. It was all my wife tried to do in the first place.

I told her thanks, but in the future that she needs to speak to mgmt. about not continually jacking bills up so I have to call back in a year and do this again. So frustrating. One year, I'll actually switch just based on the principle of it. Maybe next year is the year.

Haven't been in any contract for quite a few years now and like it that way. If I fell on hard times I could cancel any time if necessary.

 

[/pine]

Like I said...this is/was not a typical promotional offer...this was a "customer loyalty award"...there was originally a separate 800 # for long time subscribers to call...the dissemination of the number was restricted and is no longer in service...

 

[kcflhrc]

For me, after 13 years with DTV, it was a matter of principle more so than their service and pricing. I got sick and tired of their games, much worse after they were bought by AT&T. But when I called to cancel it was like another phone call. No thanks, I don't need their grief. Dish was straight forward pricing for 2 years and learning the channels is no big deal. Plus I can control the Hopper with my Amazon Alexa, it is very cool.

 

[dmccarty]

I canceled Direct TV years ago and my bad was not doing it years earlier. The wife and I had been talking about it for years but it took us too long to finally cancel. When I called to canceled, they passed me off to the department to try to retain me. The lady cut the bill a couple of times but the price was not low enough. She asked how low would it have to go. I told her that the channels I used to watch now had nothing of value on them, I was forced to buy channels I did not want to watch and did not watch, and that the service was worth about $20 a month. We were paying almost $100 with no movie channels. :shocked: We do not watch sports but to get the channels we wanted to watch we had to pay off the ESPN Syndicate which was a big portion of the bill. When I said I would be wiling to pay $20ish she went and canceled! :cool2::dance1::laughing:

The sad thing is that I put up an antennae to get local channels. At one point we were getting say 20-30 channels but something has happened and we now only get half of that from the antennae. :confused3: I bought new, fancy dancey, modern rabbit ear antennae for the TV to get back some of the channels. To be honest it does not really matter because there is not much worth watching on the channels we do pick up. We watch a bit of PBS and a couple of channels that play old TV shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Maybe six channels in total. Yesterday we watch a couple of episodes of Laramie. Never seen it before and they had some really good writers and actors. :thumbsup:

Later,
Dan

 

[/pine]

There are numerous threads for bitching about DTV, Dish and other providers...seems like everyone just wants to harp on whomever their TV provider is or was...I know I am saving $45/month for the next 12 months regardless...IMO for anyone that is a DTV subscriber it's worth a call...
Really don't care to read everyone's whine about their TV experiences...