Directv

Well, I dont know how some of yall do it, but Ive read on here so many different accounts of calling up DIRECTV and getting the upcoming Season's Sunday Ticket for free by threatening to cancel services.....I tried today, didnt work, they let me cancel......4 years of never missing a payment via auto payment and just essentially "nope cant give it to you for free, sorry to see ya go, BYE! lol......Whatever, Just gives me that final push to join the waves of cord cutters.....

Never worked for me either. I got rid of them 3 years ago. Had been a customer since the late 90's. Even in the last few years the best they'd give me was like 20% off or throw in max for free. Plus they'd tell me their records only showed me as a customer for the last 4 or 5 years so I didn't qualify for more. The only time they really tried to keep me was when I called to cancel. But even then the savings by going antenna w/ psvue was more than the ETF.

I moved on from Directv after being a loyal customer for nearly 18 years. However, I did get them to reduce the Ticket price by 60% last year but it took my demanding to speak with Customer Retention for that to happen. That department was willing to negotiate price. From my experience, Customer Service will do jack towards helping get callers real cost savings for programming subscriptions.

Sure, Customer Service will throw you a bone or two but their primary responsibility is blocking customer money saving requests. Heck, it took two calls for me to reach Customer Retention. The CSR hung up on me during the first call. Basically said there was nothing he could do and just click. The second CSR I spoke with did transfer me to Customer Retention but only after updating the text of our conversation in his system. He had me wait over two minutes before transferring my call. He did not even place my call on hold or state why my call was put in limbo. I actually listened to him pecking on his computer keyboard the whole time before he finally said, "I am sending you to Customer Retention now." Guess he was making sure he covered his own butt.

Dallas_Cowboys50 said:

Well, I dont know how some of yall do it, but Ive read on here so many different accounts of calling up DIRECTV and getting the upcoming Season's Sunday Ticket for free by threatening to cancel services.....I tried today, didnt work, they let me cancel......4 years of never missing a payment via auto payment and just essentially "nope cant give it to you for free, sorry to see ya go, BYE! lol......Whatever, Just gives me that final push to join the waves of cord cutters.....

Click to expand...

I was one that had success with that for 5 years in a row but that stopped a couple of years back and I was told they're losing money on it and since they pay 1.5B a season, that could very well be and not one of the guys that I know used to subscribe does so anymore. They all got pissed at DirecTV promoting they were giving it to new subscribers for free.

It was originally a "play keep away" from cable and I would be surprised if they gave that up because not every line/item has to show a profit.

Since I live in a DC connected area, I get the games that matter anyway, only downside is the Texans is the other team, so I was only using the Red Zone Channel when I was engaged in illegal activities with the DFS sites. I do not miss it and wouldn't use it now if I was able to threaten them into giving it up.

I laugh at these companies complaining that there's no customer loyalty anymore. They give it to new customers and the long term valued ones get the shaft. That's like your ex wife giving her new boyfriend, what you always asked/begged for and never got, on their first date.

Big corporate money grab is all they do. Have to please their investors.

It's called CSR roulette. Just hang up and call back.

My buddy did the same thing. He went two weeks without TV and DirecTV called him back. Now he has all his former service and NFL package for $10 a month!!!!

Dallas_Cowboys50 said:

Well, I dont know how some of yall do it, but Ive read on here so many different accounts of calling up DIRECTV and getting the upcoming Season's Sunday Ticket for free by threatening to cancel services.....I tried today, didnt work, they let me cancel......4 years of never missing a payment via auto payment and just essentially "nope cant give it to you for free, sorry to see ya go, BYE! lol......Whatever, Just gives me that final push to join the waves of cord cutters.....

Click to expand...

I'd answer calls that look like telemarketers if you are serious about wanting Sunday Ticket. You'll probably hear from them in the next couple days.

Rockport said:

Big corporate money grab is all they do. Have to please their investors.

Click to expand...

I think that they have been so willing to negotiate over the years the price of the Sunday Ticket because they make up the loss by you keeping the standard residential service. The profit on Sunday Ticket comes from the bars and restaurants that have to pay on average over $6,000 a year for it. The cost can be much higher the more capacity a bar/restaurant has. For instance, if the bar/restaurant has a capacity of over 350 persons, they will pay almost $10,000 a year!

GMO415 said:

My buddy did the same thing. He went two weeks without TV and DirecTV called him back. Now he has all his former service and NFL package for $10 a month!!!!

Click to expand...

I was wondering about that, so far they havent called back, but my service doesnt end til Late next month since they do a month in advance...kinda wonderin if they wait til the last minute before Im supposed to send back the receiver boxes.....

Dallas_Cowboys50 said:

I was wondering about that, so far they havent called back, but my service doesnt end til Late next month since they do a month in advance...kinda wonderin if they wait til the last minute before Im supposed to send back the receiver boxes.....

Click to expand...

I would wait it out and see what happens.

The NFL has to decide whether to keep it with DirecTV exclusively through 22 or let it run out this season and they're exploring some kind of DirecTV for satellite distribution and a streaming service. So far, they've come up snake eyes on getting a streamer to replace DirecTV but up to their usual greed standards, 1.5B isn't enough.

The thing is, you aren't talking with someone that actually works for direct tv..it's someone in a room of 200 people that are probably answering a question about a credit card after they hang up with you...so they probably can't offer you the world.
I've had dish and direct two times each I think. I still have a direct dish on my roof

CouchCoach said:

I laugh at these companies complaining that there's no customer loyalty anymore. They give it to new customers and the long term valued ones get the shaft.

Click to expand...

That's been the case for years with many companies, which is why I usually leave most of them.

As a business, your most valuable asset is your existing customer/client base especially if they are a recurring revenue stream for you.

Companies used to care about their existing customers, but now it seems like the only reason they contact you is to try to sell you more stuff rather than show their appreciation for what you are already spending with them every month.

I recently left a cell company I had been with for 15 years and not only did they not act like they cared when I left, they ended up billing me an extra month of service because their billing person did not cancel billing on my account when they closed it out even though my phone number was switched to my new carrier even before I called them to cancel.

CouchCoach said:

I would wait it out and see what happens.

The NFL has to decide whether to keep it with DirecTV exclusively through 22 or let it run out this season and they're exploring some kind of DirecTV for satellite distribution and a streaming service. So far, they've come up snake eyes on getting a streamer to replace DirecTV but up to their usual greed standards, 1.5B isn't enough.

Click to expand...

Though I don't know exactly how they did streaming live games last season but I would think Amazon would be the best option. I would think they have the infrastructure in place to handle it. Plus they may be willing spend a lot of money. They paid the NFL $130 million to stream Thursday night games for two years.

DanteEXT said:

Though I don't know exactly how they did streaming live games last season but I would think Amazon would be the best option. I would think they have the infrastructure in place to handle it. Plus they may be willing spend a lot of money. They paid the NFL $130 million to stream Thursday night games for two years.

Click to expand...

The problem is the NFL wants more than the 1.5B a year, that's why they're thinking of other options.

Reality said:

That's been the case for years with many companies, which is why I usually leave most of them.

As a business, your most valuable asset is your existing customer/client base especially if they are a recurring revenue stream for you.

Companies used to care about their existing customers, but now it seems like the only reason they contact you is to try to sell you more stuff rather than show their appreciation for what you are already spending with them every month.

I recently left a cell company I had been with for 15 years and not only did they not act like they cared when I left, they ended up billing me an extra month of service because their billing person did not cancel billing on my account when they closed it out even though my phone number was switched to my new carrier even before I called them to cancel.

Click to expand...

Cost of sale analyses continue to show companies the value of retention vs new sales and many continue to ignore it because that means a core shift.

As long as the population continues to increase thereby creating the larger possible pipeline, this will not change for many. But these companies that specialize in business software have gotten wise and formed retention departments, my older son has been in that field for years and was with Dell at one time in that capacity, who's focus is solely on keeping the customers happy so they'll not only renew but buy more or upgrade.

When ATT bought DirecTV, their thinking shifted because I used the be able to use the "C" word, cable, and they'd jump through their own butt to keep me. The last time I tried what had worked for me for five years, I got the same response 50 did, here's where to return the equipment. They could care less and when I got to talk to a person in management, they were even worse. On the technical side, DirecTV is still good but on the business side, they suck.

And therein lies the problem with the FTC allowing these conglomerates to absorb other companies. It's the same problem as when they allowed an owner to own so many radio stations in the same market, not all will get the attention they deserve or need.

Reality said:

That's been the case for years with many companies, which is why I usually leave most of them.

As a business, your most valuable asset is your existing customer/client base especially if they are a recurring revenue stream for you.

Companies used to care about their existing customers, but now it seems like the only reason they contact you is to try to sell you more stuff rather than show their appreciation for what you are already spending with them every month.

I recently left a cell company I had been with for 15 years and not only did they not act like they cared when I left, they ended up billing me an extra month of service because their billing person did not cancel billing on my account when they closed it out even though my phone number was switched to my new carrier even before I called them to cancel.

Click to expand...

I wonder if anyone has tried some sort of model of billing where your bill goes down the longer you have service, like $2.00 /month or something like that

Dallas_Cowboys50 said:

Well, I dont know how some of yall do it, but Ive read on here so many different accounts of calling up DIRECTV and getting the upcoming Season's Sunday Ticket for free by threatening to cancel services.....I tried today, didnt work, they let me cancel......4 years of never missing a payment via auto payment and just essentially "nope cant give it to you for free, sorry to see ya go, BYE! lol......Whatever, Just gives me that final push to join the waves of cord cutters.....

Click to expand...

If you live in Texas and use Direct TV.

Well every time there's a storm the system goes out. Multiple times.

Longboysfan said:

If you live in Texas and use Direct TV.

Well every time there's a storm the system goes out. Multiple times.

Click to expand...

On the flipside, I live in the Hill Country and the cable company's trucks are in my neighborhood 4 out of 5 days every week and I hear nothing but complaints. It takes 5-6 business days to get service. DirecTV, never more than 2.

And hell, I've got so much stuff crammed on my DVR, I can't give it up. They'll have to pry that DVR out of my cold dead hands.

The CEO of AT&T is weeding out the basic customers for DirecTV. All they are interested in keeping is the subscribe to everything customer that is spending 400 a month.