Nathan Exposed » Anyone care to “dish” with me?

Anyone care to “dish” with me?

That was a pun. Get it? I want your input on DirecTV, so I’m asking you to “dish” some gossip with me. Not funny? Okay. Fine.

In the endless world of customer dissatisfaction, we’re considering cancelling our cable service and ordering DirecTV. Comcast just isn’t making the cut.

But I have jitters because of DirecTV’s 2 year contract. Companies are all about protecting themselves, and never the consumer. Everything has a contract these days. I really don’t want to commit to 2 years. If they are lousy, we’ll be stuck with an early termination fee.

I’ve scoured the internet for consumer reviews, and naturally there are pages filled with horror stories about how they were sent to a collection agency immediately after cancelling, damage that was done to their roof during installation, poor reception, rude customer service, etc.

Rodney and I both seem to be a magnet for hardware malfunctions and poor service. I’m sure there are thousands of people who just love DirecTV, but I am worried that something would happen with our service, and we’d be stuck for 2 years.

Dish Network isn’t an option for us. They don’t carry Logo, which is a channel we really like, and neither one of us believes in settling for a smaller selection. So it’s either Comcast or DirecTV.

What are your experiences with DirecTV? Do you like their service, did you have any problems, do you have anything to share? If so, please leave a comment.

Sun, Nov 5, 2006 @ 4:34 pm | Filed in Technology | Permalink

4 Comments

I refuse to leave my local cable company - at least for a dish. The summer down here can be quite stormy, and I’ve heard too many horror stories about service during an electrical/wind storm.

Likewise, I don’t have a cable box. If there isn’t something on the 75 channels available, I’ll pick up a book or put in a DVD.

Posted by Mikell on Sun, Nov 5, 2006 @ 7:22 pm

I would love to have a cheaper service. However, I’m like mike. I’m keeping my local cable service. I’ve heard and seen the evidence of bad installations, no service during inclement weather.

I do not defend comcast at all. I think they really need to lower prices and better train their Customer service Reps!

Todd and I breifly looked into a dish. We changed our minds quickly.

Posted by chip on Sun, Nov 5, 2006 @ 9:45 pm

Thanks for the feedback!

Well, it’s not looking good for the ol’ dish. I guess my biggest complaint is not Comcast itself, but its products. I should have clarified that.

The DVR system sucks. In 2005, it was so slow. The newest one that we got in 2006 is faster, but it erases shows randomly when the memory is hardly full at all. Sometimes it just completely skips shows that are scheduled. That is so annoying.

We own a Tivo, but we gave up our phone line because we never used it. You need a phone line or a wireless network for Tivo. Maybe I can cancel the DVR service, re-subscribe to Tivo, and get a bare bones phone line for $13 a month. It would be a little more expensive, but probably more reliable than a dish.

Anyway, thanks for the perspectives. I am still curious to hear what others say.

Posted by Nathan on Sun, Nov 5, 2006 @ 11:16 pm

I have horror stories about DirecTV, and am considering making the opposite choice - going back to cable…call me and I’ll give you the full review.

Posted by Dan Turning 40 on Mon, Nov 6, 2006 @ 12:06 am